Impact of Prenatal Vitamin/Mineral Supplements on Perinatal Mortality

Beyond perinatal folic acid supplementation, the need for additional prenatal prophylaxis of iron with or without other micronutrients remains unclear. The randomized double-blind controlled trial aim to investigate the maternal and infant health effects of iron plus folic acid and multiple micronutrient supplements vs folic acid alone when provided to pregnant women with no or mild anemia. 18775 nulliparous pregnant women with mild or no anemia were enrolled from 5 counties of northern China from May 2006 through April 2009. Women were randomly assigned to daily folic acid (400μg) (control), folic acid–iron (30 mg), or folic acid, iron, and 13 additional vitamins and minerals provided before 20weeks gestation to delivery. Primary outcome was perinatal mortality. Secondary outcomes included neonatal and infant mortality, preterm delivery, birth weight, birth length, gestational duration, and maternal hemoglobin concentration and anemia. A total of 92.7% of women consumed 80% to 100% of supplements as instructed. On average, women consumed 177 supplements.