Trial reportBMC public health2017
The effect of a micronutrient powder home fortification program on anemia and cognitive outcomes among young children in rural China: a cluster randomized trial.
Trial report in BMC public health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effect of iron supplements on cognitive development in children: an umbrella review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Systematic Literature Review of the Nutrient Status, Intake, and Diet Quality of Chinese Children across Different Age Groups.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Home fortification of foods with multiple micronutrient powders for health and nutrition in children under two years of age.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Using community health workers to deliver a scalable integrated parenting program in rural China: A cluster-randomized controlled trial.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2019Trial
- Prevalence and influencing factors of micronutrient powder adoption among children aged 6-24 months by parental and grandparental caregivers: an analysis from rural China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The medium-term impact of a micronutrient powder intervention on anemia among young children in Rural China.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The triple benefits of slimming and greening the Chinese food system.Nature food · 2022Review
- The association between micronutrient powder delivery patterns and caregiver feeding behaviors in rural China.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Exploring behavioural factors affecting nutritional supplement use among children in Honduras.Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Article
- Trajectories of child cognitive development during ages 0-3 in rural Western China: prevalence, risk factors and links to preschool-age cognition.BMC pediatrics · 2021Article
- Article
- Interrelationships of Parenting Information, Family Care, and Child Development: A Cross-sectional Study in Rural China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Net benefit and cost-effectiveness of universal iron-containing multiple micronutrient powders for young children in 78 countries: a microsimulation study.The Lancet. Global health · 2020Article
- The relationship between dietary micronutrients intake and cognition test performance among school-aged children in government-owned primary schools in Kumasi metropolis, Ghana.Food science & nutrition · 2019Article
- Iron Deficiency, Cognitive Functions, and Neurobehavioral Disorders in Children.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAnemia early in life has been associated with delayed cognitive and motor development. The WHO recommends home fortification using multiple micronutrient powders (MNPs) containing iron as a strategy to address anemia in children under two. We evaluated the effects of a program freely distributing MNP sachets to caregivers of infants in rural China.
methodsWe conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Shaanxi province, enrolling all children aged 6-11 months in target villages. Following a baseline survey, investigators randomly assigned each village/cluster to a control or treatment group. In the treatment group, caregivers were instructed to give MNPs daily. Follow-up was after 6, 12, and 18 months of intervention. Primary outcomes were hemoglobin concentrations and scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.
resultsOne thousand, eight hundred and-two eligible children and their caregivers were enrolled. At baseline 48% (870) of children were anemic and 29% (529) were developmentally delayed. Six hundred and-ten children (117 villages) were assigned to the control group and 1192 children (234 villages) were assigned to the treatment group. Assignment to the treatment group was associated with an improvement in hemoglobin levels (marginal effect 1.77 g/L, 95% CI 0.017-3.520, p-value = 0.048) and cognitive development (marginal effect 2.23 points, 95% CI 0.061-4.399, p-value = 0.044) after 6 months but not thereafter. There were no significant effects on motor development. Zero effects after the first 6 months were not due to low compliance, low statistical power, or changes in feeding behavior. Hemoglobin concentrations improved in both the treatment and control groups over the course of the study; however, 22% (325) of children remained anemic at endline, and 48% (721) were cognitively delayed.
conclusionsProviding caregivers with MNP sachets modestly hastened improvement in hemoglobin levels that was occurring absent intervention; however, this improvement did not translate into improved developmental outcomes at endline.
trial registrationISRCTN44149146 ; prospectively registered on 15th April 2013.
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