Effects on haemoglobin of multi-micronutrient supplementation and multi-helminth chemotherapy: a randomized, controlled trial in Kenyan school children.

Objective: To assess the effects of multi-micronutrient supplementation and multi-helminth chemotherapy on haemoglobin concentration (Hb), using schools as a health delivery system. STUDY AREA AND POPULATION: Nine hundred seventy-seven children between 9 and 18 y of age from 19 primary schools in Bondo District, western Kenya, were included in the trial. The 746 (76.4%) children on whom baseline Hb was available were included in this study.

Design: The study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, two-by-two factorial trial of the effects of multi-micronutrient supplementation and multi-helminth chemotherapy on Hb after 8 months.

Intervention: Single treatment of infected children with albendazole (600 mg) for geohelminths and praziquantel (40 mg/kg) for Schistosoma mansoni and daily supplementation with 13 micronutrients.

Results: : Multi-micronutrient supplementation (3.5 g/l, 95% CI 1.7, 5.3; P=0.0002) and anthelminthic treatment (2.0 g/l, 95% CI 0.2, 3.9; P=0.03) increased Hb independently (interaction, P=0.33). The effects were also independent of baseline Hb and general nutritional status. The treatment effect was due to reductions in S. mansoni and hookworm intensities of infection, in that Hb increased by 0.4 and 0.2 g/l, respectively, per 100 epg reductions in egg output. Interestingly, among S. mansoni-infected children, the effect of treatment seemed stronger in those with compared to those without co-existing malaria parasitaemia (interaction, P=0.09).

Conclusion: Multi-micronutrient supplementation and multi-helminth chemotherapy increased Hb among school children, irrespective of initial Hb and nutritional status.