Comparison of efficacy of ferrous sulfate and iron polymaltose complex in the treatment of childhood iron deficiency anemia

Aim: to compare efficacy of ferrous sulfate (fs) with iron polymaltose complex (ipc) in treating childhood iron deficiency anemia. methods: this randomized trial was conducted at department of pediatrics bahawal victoria hospital,bahawalpur from february 2016 to august 2016. total of 70 children aged 6months to 6years having ida were enrolled. they were randomly allocated to 2 groups. in ipc group,iron polymaltose complex was given while in fs group ferrous sulfate was given for 2 months. the dose of iron preparations given was 6mg/kg/day of elemental iron in 3 divided doses. results: out of 70 children,39(55.7%) were male and 31(44.3%) were female. mean age of children was 2.46 years±1.36 sd. majority of children (60%) were under 2 years. mean weight of children was 10.7 kg. majority of children,4 (65.7%) were <12 kg,24(34.3%) were 12kg or more. mean hb and ferritin before start of therapy in studied children were 7.85g/dl±0.82 sd and 8.22ng/ml±2.42 sd respectively. mean post treatment hb and ferritin in studied children were 10.9g/dl ±0.90 sd and 42.8ng/ml±21 sd respectively. compliance was good in 94.3% children in ipc group and 85.7% children in fs group. while comparing both groups efficacy was seen in 32(91.4%) children in ipc group and 30 (85.8%) children in fs group which was insignificant statistically (p value=0.45). conclusion: results of this study revealed that there was statistically insignificant difference in the efficacy rate of iron polymaltose complex and ferrous sulphate when used as an oral iron replacement treatment in children with iron deficiency anemia. ferrous sulfate and iron polymaltose can be used as alternative drugs as both have comparative efficacy.