Comparing Compliance and Tolerability of Ferrous Ascorbate versus Ferrous Sulphate in Pregnancy: A Prospective Community-Based Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2026.v38i03.013Keywords:
Iron and Folic Acid; Anaemia in Pregnancy; Patient Compliance; Ferrous Ascorbate; Ferrous Sulphate; TolerabilityAbstract
Context/Background: Poor compliance with Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation, often due to adverse effects from Ferrous Sulphate, severely limits efforts to reduce anaemia prevalence in Indian pregnancy.
Aims/Objectives: To compare the patient compliance rates and tolerability profiles of Ferrous Sulphate and Ferrous Ascorbate formulations in an operational community health setting.
Methodology: This prospective observational study enrolled 110 pregnant women (55 received Ferrous Sulphate; 55 received Ferrous Ascorbate) from the designated field practice areas of medical college in two districts of Madhya Pradesh. Compliance (primary outcome) and adverse effects were collected over follow-up visits spanning 8-10 weeks. Limitations include the non-randomized allocation of groups and the reliance on self-reported compliance. Statistical analysis included the Chi-square test and logistic regression.
Results: Full compliance was significantly higher with Ferrous Ascorbate (78.2%) than with Ferrous Sulphate (56.4%) (p = 0.014). Adverse drug effects were the dominant reason for partial compliance in in both the Ferrous Sulphate group (87.5%) and the Ferrous Ascorbate group (58.3%). The incidence of nausea/vomiting was notably higher with Ferrous Sulphate (56.4% vs. 34.5%, p=0.027).
Conclusions: Ferrous Ascorbate is associated with superior tolerability and significantly higher compliance in a community setting compared to standard therapy. Prioritizing a better-tolerated iron formulation is a crucial, modifiable strategy to enhance the effectiveness of national anaemia prevention programs.
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Data Availability Statement
The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are not publicly available to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the pregnant participants, but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dr Akhil R Nair, Dr Rama S Lodha, Dr Harshima Sawlani (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
