Evidence map›Paper›PMID 11744561›Full record

Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2001

Effects of iron supplementation and anthelmintic treatment on motor and language development of preschool children in Zanzibar: double blind, placebo controlled study.

R J Stoltzfus, J D Kvalsvig, H M Chwaya, A Montresor, M Albonico, J M Tielsch, L Savioli, E Pollitt

Open access · bronzeAbstract readClinical TrialRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 14 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
84citing papers in PubMed, 14 pooled it
11.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

84 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 311 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Anthelmintic drugs for treating ascariasis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Oral iron supplements for children in malaria-endemic areas.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016
    Pooled it
  9. Pooled it
  10. Pooled it
  11. Pooled it
  12. Pooled it
  13. Pooled it
  14. Iron supplementation in early childhood: health benefits and risks.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2006
    Pooled it
  15. Trial
  16. Trial
  17. Trial
  18. Iron supplementation in premature infants using the zinc protoporphyrin to heme ratio: short- and long-term outcomes.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2013
    Trial
  19. Trial
  20. Trial

24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 7 institutions in 5 countries.

R J StoltzfusDepartment of I nternational Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205-2179, USA.
J D Kvalsvig
H M Chwaya
A Montresor
M Albonico
J M Tielsch
L Savioli
E Pollitt
Johns Hopkins University · USMinistry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children · TZPublic Health Laboratory Ivo de Carneri · TZUniversity of California, Davis · USUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal · ZAWorld Health Organization · CHWorld Health Organization - Pakistan · PK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo measure the effects of iron supplementation and anthelmintic treatment on iron status, anaemia, growth, morbidity, and development of children aged 6-59 months.

designDouble blind, placebo controlled randomised factorial trial of iron supplementation and anthelmintic treatment.

settingCommunity in Pemba Island, Zanzibar.

participants614 preschool children aged 6-59 months.

main outcome measuresDevelopment of language and motor skills assessed by parental interview before and after treatment in age appropriate subgroups.

resultsBefore intervention, anaemia was prevalent and severe, and geohelminth infections were prevalent and light-Plasmodium falciparum infection was nearly universal. Iron supplementation significantly improved iron status, but not haemoglobin status. Iron supplementation improved language development by 0.8 (95% confidence interval 0.2 to 1.4) points on the 20 point scale. Iron supplementation also improved motor development, but this effect was modified by baseline haemoglobin concentrations (P=0.015 for interaction term) and was apparent only in children with baseline haemoglobin concentrations <90 g/l. In children with a baseline haemoglobin concentration of 68 g/l (one standard deviation below the mean value), iron treatment increased scores by 1.1 (0.1 to 2.1) points on the 18 point motor scale. Mebendazole significantly reduced the number and severity of infections caused by Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura, but not by hookworms. Mebendazole increased development scores by 0.4 (-0.3 to 1.1) points on the motor scale and 0.3 (-0.3 to 0.9) points on the language scale.

conclusionsIron supplementation improved motor and language development of preschool children in rural Africa. The effects of iron on motor development were limited to children with more severe anaemia (baseline haemoglobin concentration <90 g/l). Mebendazole had a positive effect on motor and language development, but this was not statistically significant.

Indexed as

Language DevelopmentAnemia, Iron-DeficiencyAnthelminticsAnthropometryChild, PreschoolDevelopmental DisabilitiesDouble-Blind MethodFemaleFollow-Up StudiesGrowth DisordersHelminthiasisHumansInfantIronMaleMebendazoleAnthelminticsIronMebendazole

Identifiers

PMID11744561
PMCPMC60982
OpenAlexW1999316881

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.