{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T13:48:14Z","timestamp":1784641694773,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,11]],"date-time":"2021-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613001600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Anaemia in young sub-Saharan African children may be due to the double burden of malaria and iron deficiency. Primary analysis of a double-blind, cluster randomized trial of iron containing micronutrient powder supplementation in Ghanaian children aged 6 to 35 months found no difference in malaria risk between intervention and placebo groups. Here, we performed a secondary analysis of the trial data to assess the impact of long-term prophylactic iron fortificant on the risk of iron deficiency and anaemia in trial subjects. This population-based randomized-cluster trial involved 1958 children aged between 6 to 35 months, identified at home and able to eat semi-solid foods. The intervention group (n = 967) received a daily dose containing 12.5 mg elemental iron (as ferrous fumarate), vitamin A (400 \u03bcg), ascorbic acid (30 mg) and zinc (5 mg). The placebo group (n = 991) received a similar micronutrient powder but without iron. Micronutrient powder was provided daily to both groups for 5 months. At baseline and endline, health assessment questionnaires were administered and blood samples collected for analysis. The two groups had similar baseline anthropometry, anaemia, iron status, demographic characteristics, and dietary intakes (p &gt; 0.05). Of the 1904 (97.2%) children who remained at the end of the intervention, the intervention group had significantly higher haemoglobin (p = 0.0001) and serum ferritin (p = 0.0002) levels than the placebo group. Soluble transferrin receptor levels were more saturated among children from the iron group compared to non-iron group (p = 0.012). Anaemia status in the iron group improved compared to the placebo group (p = 0.03). Continued long-term routine use of micronutrient powder containing prophylactic iron reduced anaemia, iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia among pre-school children living in rural Ghana\u2019s malaria endemic area.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0246362","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,11]],"date-time":"2021-02-11T23:41:54Z","timestamp":1613086914000},"page":"e0246362","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Impact of iron fortification on anaemia and iron deficiency among pre-school children living in Rural Ghana"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4800-1769","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Samuel Kofi","family":"Tchum","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fareed Kow","family":"Arthur","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bright","family":"Adu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samuel Asamoah","family":"Sakyi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Latifatu Alhassan","family":"Abubakar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dorcas","family":"Atibilla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seeba","family":"Amenga-Etego","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Felix Boakye","family":"Oppong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francis","family":"Dzabeng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Benjamin","family":"Amoani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Gyan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emmanuel","family":"Arhin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kwaku","family":"Poku-Asante","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0246362.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e16","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(13)70001-9","article-title":"Global, regional, and national trends in haemoglobin concentration and prevalence of total and severe anaemia in children and pregnant and non-pregnant women for 1995\u20132011: a systematic analysis of population-representative data","volume":"1","author":"GA Stevens","year":"2013","journal-title":"The Lancet Global Health"},{"key":"pone.0246362.ref002","unstructured":"Wisconsin-Madison\/KEMRI-WellcomeTrust\/UNICEF UoGGUo. 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