Iron supplements efficacious for children living with HIV, reveals research

“With the success and widespread availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART), children with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are living longer, and optimizing their brain development is a new public health imperative,” said Sarah Cusick, PhD, associate professor at the U of M Medical School and a member of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.

Between May 2018 and November 2019, researchers enrolled 200 children with HIV and anemia who had received ART for at least six months. The study participants were randomly chosen to receive either iron supplements or a placebo for three months. Children who received iron had higher hemoglobin concentrations and better markers of iron nutrition than those who received the placebo. There also was no evidence of increased risk of infection.A of time.

Reference:

Anne E P Frosch, Victor Musiime, Christopher Staley, Andrea L Conroy, Safety and efficacy of iron supplementation with 3 months of daily ferrous sulphate in children living with HIV and mild-to-moderate anaemia in Uganda: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, The Lancet HIV, DOI:10.1016/S2352-3018(24)00238-8.