ArticleBMJ open2026
Mapping the evidence on anaemia across trimesters of pregnancy and risk of adverse birth outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review protocol.
Article in BMJ open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPregnancy-related anaemia significantly affects human development across life stages. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), country-specific epidemiological variations primarily driven by nutritional practices, socioeconomic factors and health-system disparities contribute to heterogeneity in prevalence, severity and adverse birth outcomes (ABOs). While anaemia and micronutrient deficiencies in pregnancy are well studied globally, comprehensive trimester-specific evidence and their associations with ABOs in SSA remain scarce. This review, therefore, examines the breadth and nature of existing evidence on these associations within SSA, thereby updating current knowledge and informing regionally tailored interventions and future research. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A scoping review methodology will be employed due to the limited volume of literature addressing the specific research questions and population. The review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework, applying the population-concept-context approach. Comprehensive searches will be conducted across CINAHL, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Google Scholar, EBSCO Open Dissertations and relevant organisational websites. The planned search period will span from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2025. Two reviewers will independently screen and extract data using JBI-adapted protocols within the Rayyan review platform. Any discrepancies will be resolved via discussion with the research team. Findings will be synthesised narratively through descriptive content analysis and visual mapping.This review will include peer-reviewed studies and grey literature that investigate the associations between anaemia or deficiencies in iron, folate and vitamin B ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This scoping review will not require ethical approval as it will synthesise published data and reports. It has been registered with the Open Science Framework. This review does not involve human participants. The final report will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The findings will be used to shape subsequent research, serving as a fundamental element of the evidence and knowledge mapping framework. As this study protocol was not reviewed by an ethics committee, the appropriate contact for research integrity matters is the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.