Evaluation of the Effects of Routine Iron Supplementation in Children on Gastrointestinal Iron Losses
Evaluation of the Effects of Routine Iron Supplementation in Children on Gastrointestinal Iron Losses
NCT ID: NCT04721964 Phase: NA Status: COMPLETED Enrollment: 24 Completion: 2021-06-16
Conditions
Iron Deficiency Anemia, Gastro Intestinal Bleeding, Iron-deficiency
Interventions
Ferric ammonium citrate and ferrous fumarate syrup (Ranbaxy Ranferon-12 Syrup, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Gurgaon, India)
Summary
Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is common among infants and young children in sub-Saharan Africa.Oral iron administration is usually recom-mended as cost effective measure to prevent and treat iron deficiency (ID) and IDA during childhood. In Kenya, national nutrition policies for anaemia prevention recommend a daily dose of 3-6 mg ele-mental iron per kg body weight if a child is diagnosed with anaemia.
Using a novel technology, recent research found increased iron losses during iron supplementation. In an explorative analysis of stool samples collected from Gambian toddlers (Speich et al., 2020), an increase in faecal iron losses during iron supplementation was reported. The present study is aiming to analyse a relationship between routine iron supplementation and increased faecal occult blood losses in 24 Kenyan children with anaemia and iron deficiency in a more structured manner.
Secondary objectives of the study are to measure and monitor iron and inflammatory status during the course of the study and to quantify long-term iron absorption and iron losses during a 12-weeks iron supplementation period, in order to put iron balance into relationship to occurring faecal occult blood losses during such an intervention.
Primary Outcome
Fecal occult blood concentration