title: Weekly iron folic acid supplementation plays differential role in maintaining iron markers level in non-anaemic and anaemic primigravida: A randomized controlled study.
abstract: Anaemia during pregnancy is most commonly observed and highly prevalent in South-East Asia. Various effective programmes have been laid down for its management, mainly daily supplementation of iron folic acid (IFA) tablets. Following the same, standard obstetrical practice has included the IFA supplementation without requiring the determination of iron deficiency. In this study, a total of 120 primigravida (N= 60; non-anaemic (Hb > 11 g/dl) andN= 60 anaemic (Hb = 8-11 g/dl)) were selected among those attending the Antenatal Clinic in Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India. They were supplemented with daily and weekly IFA tablets till 6 weeks postpartum. Corresponding changes in haemoglobin level on advance of pregnancy, side effects and compliance associated with daily and weekly IFA supplementation and its associations with iron status markers were studied. The inflammatory markers were also estimated. The statistical significance level (p< 0.05) between the groups were assessed by applying unpairedt-test using SPSS (version 16.0). The obtained results publicized the salutary role of daily IFA supplementation in improving the haemoglobin level and iron status markers in anaemic pregnant women though the levels could not reach up to the non-anaemic haemoglobin levels. However, weekly IFA supplementation seems to be a better approach in non-anaemic pregnant women where almost comparable results were obtained in terms of haematological parameters, gestation length and birth weight.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Weekly IFA supplementation found to be as effective as daily supplementation in iron sufficient non-anaemic pregnant women whereas anaemic pregnant women should be prescribed daily IFA supplementation irrespective of iron replete/deplete state.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India; Department of Biochemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Hari
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shankar
authors.affiliation: Division of Reproductive & Child Health, Indian Council of Medical Research, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
authors.forename: Neeta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Rajat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sandhir
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
authors.forename: Suneeta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mittal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurra
authors.affiliation: Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education of Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Lakhbir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dhaliwal
authors.affiliation: Genetic Centre, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Gurjit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Division of Reproductive & Child Health, Indian Council of Medical Research, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
authors.forename: Nomita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chandhiok
authors.affiliation: Division of Reproductive & Child Health, Indian Council of Medical Research, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Dhillon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Rao
keywords: Anaemia; DISG, daily IFA supplementation group; Hb, haemoglobin; Hct, haematocrit; HsCRP, high sensitivity C-reactive protein; IFA, iron folic acid; Iron folic acid supplementation; Iron status markers; MCH, mean corpuscular haemoglobin; MCV, mean corpuscular volume; Pregnancy; RBC, red blood cell; WISG, weekly IFA supplementation group; sTfR, soluble transferrin receptors