THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A SCHOOL-BASED INTERVENTION FOR THE TREATMENT OF IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA

Background: In Brazil, iron deficiency anemia is considered a public health problem, which has a direct impact on the process of child growth and devel-opment. To assess the impact of a powdered supplement added to foodprepa-rations,onhemoglobin(Hb)levelsandotherhematimetricparametersinchil-dren.Method: This study is a double-blind, community-controlled clinical trial conducted in education centers in the northeast of Brazil. In this trial, food preparations were offered with a powdered supplement, enriched with iron (intervention) and control (no supplementation), Monday through Friday, for 60days.TwobiochemicalevaluationswereperformedtodetermineHb,hema-tocrit (Ht), mean corpuscular volume and ferritin levels before and after the intervention.Results: For participants in the 6-to 59-month age range, we identified an increase in mean Hb concentrations and other hematimetric parameters. In the5-to11-yearagegroup,therewasasignificantincreaseinbothgroupsfor Hb and Htvalues, and mean Hb concentration was significantly greater in the intervention group (12.25±0.76 vs. 11.93±0.94, p