SynthesisReproductive health2025
Intermittent versus daily oral iron folic acid supplementation and pregnancy outcome in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies.
Synthesis in Reproductive health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis 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
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- FIGO good practice recommendations on anemia in pregnancy, to reduce the incidence and impact of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH).International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2025Guideline
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Trials were inconsistent while reporting findings on the benefits of the intermittent regimen. Recent conclusive evidence to show overall effect was limited. This review compared intermittent and daily iron folic acid supplementation (IFAS) on pregnancy outcomes. Protocol is registered at Prospero with registration number CRD42023409161. The major data sources searched were PubMed/Medline, Hinari, and Google Scholar. The process was reported using a PRISMA flow diagram. The included studies were trials with English language reports. The population was pregnant women. The intervention was an intermittent oral iron folic acid regimen, and the control was a daily regimen. The outcome measures were blood hemoglobin level, side effects, and medication adherence. The GRADE approach and Cochrane collaboration tool were used in the quality evaluation. The selected trials were narrated for basic characteristics and major findings. The standardized mean difference was used for continuous outcomes and the relative risk for binary outcomes. A sensitivity analysis was performed to report the robustness of the estimate. Twenty-two trials were selected for analysis. The quality of the evidence ranges from high to very low. Maternal blood hemoglobin levels were different between the intermittent and daily groups (mean difference (MD), - 0.24 g/dl; 95%CI, - 0.35, - 0.12). However, either early initiation or frequently intermittent regimen in the subgroup analysis showed no difference in hemoglobin levels. Intermittent regimens had lower gastric side effects (relative risk (RR), 0.27; 95%CI, 0.11, 0.69) and better medication adherences (relative risk (RR), 1.6; 95%CI, 1.34, 1.91). There was no clear evidence of a difference in anaemia incidence between the groups (relative risk (RR), 1.09; 95%CI, 0.77, 1.54). The overall level of hemoglobin in pregnancy was different between the groups. However, anaemia incidence was similar. The combined results suggest the intermittent regimen had better benefits in pregnancy than daily.
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