Impact of iron-folic acid supplementation on cognitive abilities of school girls in Vadodara.

OBJECTIVES To assess impact of daily and intermittent iron-folate (IFA) supplementation on cognition of underprivileged primary schoolgirls in Vadodara. DESIGN Experimental-control longitudinal study. SETTING Municipal primary schools. PARTICIPANTS Schoolgirls (n=161) in the age group of 9 - 13 years. INTERVENTION Participants at three randomly selected schools were given IFA tablets (100 mg elemental iron + 0.5 mg folic acid) either once weekly or twice weekly or daily for one year. The fourth was the control school. OUTCOME MEASURES Digit span, maze test, visual memory test, and clerical task scores. RESULTS IFA supplementation given daily and twice-weekly significantly improved cognition in most tests; the effect was not seen in once-weekly or control groups. In daily and twice weekly IFA groups, positive change in cognition test scores was relatively higher in girls with good compliance(< 70 % dose) vs. poor compliance; in anemic (hemoglobin < 11 g/dL) vs non-anemic girls and in those with higher hemoglobin (Hb) gain (< 1g/dL) vs. lower Hb gain. CONCLUSION Twice weekly IFA supplementation is comparable to daily IFA in terms of beneficial effects on cognition in young adolescent girls.