Comparison of iron folic acid supplementation and haemoglobin concentration in the baseline versus endline surveys*
| IFA supplementation, n | Baseline | Endline | Minimally adjusted OR or minimally adjusted mean difference† (95% CI) | P value | Fully adjusted OR or fully adjusted mean difference‡ (95% CI) | P value |
| 1385 | 922 | |||||
| Knowledge of anaemia | ||||||
| Yes | 596 (43.1%) | 744 (81.4%) | 5.4 (2.5 to 11.8) | <0.0001 | 5.7 (2.5 to 13.3) | 0.0001 |
| No | 787 (56.9%) | 170 (18.6%) | Ref | Ref | ||
| Knew benefits of IFA§ | ||||||
| Yes | 316 (53.2%) | 484 (65.0%) | 3.2 (1.6 to 6.5) | 0.001 | 4.5 (1.9 to 10.6) | 0.0009 |
| No | 278 (46.8%) | 259 (35.0%) | Ref | Ref | ||
| Reportedly received IFA during current pregnancy | ||||||
| Yes | 633 (45.8%) | 552 (60.0%) | 2.6 (1.2 to 5.4) | 0.01 | 2.7 (1.2 to 6.1) | 0.02 |
| No | 748 (54.2%) | 368 (40.0%) | Ref | Ref | ||
| Reportedly adhered to IFA supplementation | ||||||
| Yes | 455 (32.8%) | 428 (46.4%) | 2.4 (1.1 to 5.3) | 0.04 | 2.8 (1.2 to 6.5) | 0.02 |
| No | 930 (67.2%) | 494 (53.6%) | Ref | Ref | ||
| Anaemia, n | 920 | 555 | ||||
| Haemoglobin (g/L)¶ | 96.7±2.2 | 95.6±2.5 | −0.1 (–0.5 to 0.3) | 0.60 | −0.2 (–0.6 to 0.2) | 0.30 |
| Anaemia prevalence** | ||||||
| Anaemic | 724 (79.5%) | 426 (78.2%) | 1.2 (0.6 to 2.8) | 0.60 | 1.4 (0.6 to 3.6) | 0.41 |
| Non-anaemic | 187 (20.5%) | 119 (21.8%) | Ref | Ref | ||
*Results are presented as N (%) or mean±SE.
†Minimally adjusted model: adjusted for year, season, village and a variable indicating if a participant was enrolled in the baseline or in the endline survey because of the nature of the study design.
‡Fully adjusted model: multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for all the covariates in addition to year, season, village and a variable indicating if a participant was enrolled in the baseline or in the endline survey.
§Among pregnant women, who responded that they knew anemia, locally known as ‘not having enough blood’, n= 594 in the baseline survey and n=743 in the endline survey.
¶The mean difference compares endline to baseline.
**Anemia is defined as haemoglobin concentration <110 g/L if first and third trimester of gestation; <105 g/L if second trimester of gestation.
IFA, iron folic acid.