Background: For treatment of iron deficiency anemia with pregnancy, it is believed that iron chelated amino acid therapy can obviate the problem of GIT intolerance and increase the rate of iron absorption .

 

Objective: To determined whether iron chelated amino acid therapy is more beneficial than the traditional oral iron therapy in the treatment of iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy .

 

Subjects and methods : This is a RCT study conducted in Sohag university hospital. It included 450 pregnant women more than 16 weeks; presenting with iron deficiency anemia diagnosed by Hb%, hematocrete value and MCHC. Participants were divided into 3 groups, received therapy till normalization of Hb level as following:

 

Group I: received 15-mg of iron chelated amino acid daily (ferrotron; Biotron lab. INC.)

 

Group II: received 300-mg iron sulface 3 times

 

 

Moustafa A. Abdel-lah, et al. Daily after meals.

Group Ill: received 300-mg iron gluconate 3 times daily after meals.

 

 

All groups were followed up clinically for the occurrence of nausea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal cramping, and diarrhea. Also, reticulocyte was determined daily and Hb%, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were determined weekly. The fetal we ight w as e stima ted by ultrasonograhy. After termination of pregnancy, the neonatal condition was evaluated byApgar scores. The daily cost was compared for the 3 groups.

 

Results: Women in group I showed significantly lower incidence of nausea(p< 0.001)  ,vomiting (p< 0.001), constipation (p < 0.001), abdominal cramping (p< 0.001), and diarrhea (p< 0.001). than those in the other two groups. The rates of increase of reticulocytes, Hb%, and MCHC were faster in the this group (p< 0.001 for all). There was no statistical difference between groups as regards their neonatal Apgar score and daily cost of therapy.

 

Conclusion: iron chelated amino acid therapy administered for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia with pregnancy was most effective and can obviate the problem of GIT intolerance and increase the rate of absorption of iron .

 

Key words: Iron chelated amino acid,  anemia,  Iron absorption.