Effects of iron supplementation on cognitive development in school-age children: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Befikadu Tariku Gutema, Muluken Bekele Sorrie, Nega Degefa Megersa, Gesila Endashaw Yesera, Yordanos Gizachew Yeshitila, Nele S Pauwels, Stefaan De Henauw and Souheila Abbeddou

PLOS ONE, 2023, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-25

Abstract: Background: Iron deficiency is negatively associated with children’s cognitive development. Evidence showed that iron supplementation improves cognitive development. Nearly 50% of anemia is caused by iron deficiency. Anemia affects more school-age children, at an age where their brain development continues. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to review the evidence from published randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effects of iron supplementation on cognitive development and function among school-age children. Method: Five databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science and CENTRAL were used to search for articles on April 20th, 2021. The search was reconducted on October 13th, 2022 to retrieve new records. Studies were eligible if they included school children 6–12 years of age, were randomized controlled trials, and if they tested iron supplementation and measured cognitive development. Result: Thirteen articles were included in the systematic review. Overall, iron supplementation significantly improved intelligence (standardized mean difference, 95% confidence interval) (SMD 0.46, 95%CI: 0.19, 0.73, P

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287703 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 87703&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0287703

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287703

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().