A comparative study between intramuscular iron dextran and oral ferrous sulphate in the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy

Abstract

A comparative study was conducted to demonstrate the difference, if any, in effectiveness of treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy with either iron dextran or ferrous sulphate. Sixty pregnant women with iron deficiency anaemia were assigned randomly to either group and treated for 6 weeks. The age and parity distributions with mean packed cell volumes (PCVs) and gestational age at onset of treatment in the two groups were comparable. Comparing the mean PCVs at week 2, week 4 and week 6 of treatment the iron dextran group recorded higher and statistically significant mean PCVs (P < 0.001). Thirty-six per cent of patients in the iron dextran group compared to 3.3% in the oral iron group (P = 0.004) had their anaemia corrected by the sixth week. No significant side effects accompanied the use of intramuscular iron dextran. It was concluded that iron dextran corrects iron deficiency anaemia faster than ferrous sulphate. Parenteral iron should be considered in pregnant woman with moderate and asymptomatic severe anaemia between gestation ages of 28 weeks and 34 weeks; this may reduce the frequency of blood transfusion both in the antenatal and postnatal periods in these patients.