Author (year)

Study details

Major findings

Design and subjects

Interventions

Assessment timeframes

Non-pregnant women

Blanco-Rojo et al. (2011) [26]

RCT

N = 122

18 - 35 years

Low Fe stores (serum ferritin < 40 ng/ml)

Hb ≥ 110 g/l

microencapsulated iron pyrophosphate (F group, n = 64) Vs placebo (P group, n = 58) as supplement to diet

16 weeks

Compared to P, F resulted in significant improvement of

- total erythrocyte count (p = 0.046),

- hematocrit (p = 0.006)

- RDW (p = 0.003)

- Hb (p < 0.0001)

- serum ferritin (p < 0.0001)

- sTfR (p = 0.01)

Pleşea-Condratovici et al. (2012) [27]

Open label

N = 30

Post-menopausal

45 - 65 years

Hb < 11.5 gm/dL

Previous side effects with iron supplements

Intervention:

microencapsulated iron pyrophosphate in liposomal form

8 weeks

Liposomal iron supplementation was associated with significant increase in

- Hb levels (p < 0.0001)

- Hematocrit levels (P < 0.0001)

- no dropouts

- well tolerated: significant improvement was reported in all the side effects previously experienced by the patients

Pregnant women

Parisi et al. (2012) [28]

RCT

N = 80

Non-anemic

Group 1: FF14: Liposomal iron 14 mg/d

Group 2: FF28: Liposomal iron 28 mg/d

Group 3: SF: ferrous sulphate 30 mg/d

Group 4: C: control

At 20 weeks, 28 weeks and 6 weeks post-partum

FF28 was associated with

- significant improvement of Hb (p < 0.01 vs SF and < 0.05 vs C) at 28 weeks and in post-partum period

- significant improvement of ferritin levels than control at 20 weeks (p = 0.05), 28 weeks (p < 0.01) and in post-partum period (p < 0.01)

- lower drop outs (n = 2) than SF (n = 5) and C (n = 6)

- significantly higher birth weight (p < 0.05 vs C)

Parisi et al. (2012) [29]

RCT

N = 55

Anemic (Hb < 10.5 gm%)

Group 1: Fe sulphate 30 mg (FeS 30, n = 13)

Group 2: Liposomal ferric pyrophosphate 14 mg (FeP 14, n = 12)

Group 3: Liposomal ferric pyrophosphate 28 mg (FeP, 28, n = 11)

Group 4: control group with no supplementation (C, n = 19)

At 28 weeks, After delivery

FeP28 treatment was associated

- significantly greater increase in Hb compared to control (p < 0.01) at 28 weeks (with no other group having significant difference compared to control)

- no development of siderophenic anemia compared to women in control (n = 5), FeS (n = 2) and FeP14 (n = 1) groups