Table 2.
Frequency of individual symptoms irrespective of whether mild, moderate or severe (days per week)
| |
Iron |
Placebo |
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symptom | Treatment | Wash-out | Treatment | Wash-out | p value # |
|
Nausea |
1.1 ± 0.6 |
0.1 ± 0.1 |
0.2 ± 0.1 |
0.4 ± 0.4 |
0.2 |
| (−0.3; 2.5) |
(−0.1; 0.3) |
(−0.1; 0.5) |
(−0.5; 1.3) |
||
|
Heartburn |
1.0 ± 0.4 |
0.3 ± 0.3 |
0 |
0 |
0.03 |
| (0.1; 1.9) |
(−0.4; 1.0) |
(0; 0) |
(0; 0) |
||
|
Abdominal pain |
2.0 ± 0.6 |
1.0 ± 0.7 |
0.2 ± 0.1 |
0 |
0.02 |
| (0.5; 3.5) |
(−0.7; 2.7) |
(−0.1; 0.5) |
(0; 0) |
||
|
Headache |
1.1 ± 0.5 |
1.6 ± 0.6 |
0.2 ± 0.2 |
0.1 ± 0.1 |
0.15 |
| (−0.1; 2.3) |
(0.2; 3.0) |
(−0.3; 0.7) |
(−0.1; 0.3) |
||
|
Breathlessness |
0.1 ± 0.1 |
0.5 ± 0.3 |
0 |
0.1 ± 0.1 |
0.3 |
| (−0.1; 0.3) |
(−0.3; 1.3) |
(0; 0) |
(−0.1; 0.3) |
||
|
Diarrohea |
0.4 ± 0.3 |
0.3 ± 0.2 |
0.3 ± 0.3 |
0.4 ± 0.2 |
0.8 |
| (−0.3; 1.1) |
(−0.2; 0.8) |
(−0.4; 1.0) |
(−0.1; 0.9) |
||
|
Constipation |
1.0 ± 0.6 |
0.7 ± 0.5 |
0.2 ± 0.2 |
0 |
0.2 |
| (−0.3; 2.3) |
(−0.4; 1.8) |
(−0.3; 0.7) |
(0; 0) |
||
|
Change bowel movements |
1.3 ± 0.5 |
1.5 ± 0.3 |
0.4 ± 0.3 |
0.4 ± 0.2 |
0.15 |
| (0.1; 2.5) |
(0.7; 2.3) |
(−0.2; 1.0) |
(−0.1; 0.9) |
||
|
Black stools |
4.1 ± 0.7 |
1.3 ± 0.4 |
0 |
0 |
0.0004 |
| (2.4; 5.8) |
(0.4; 2.2) |
(0; 0) |
(0; 0) |
||
| p = 0.002 | |||||
Values, derived from boxes ‘C’ and ‘H’ of the questionnaire (Figure 1), are shown as mean ± standard error (95% confidence interval) for the two groups.
#significance value (p < 0.05) between the frequency of each symptom for the Iron treatment period versus the Placebo treatment period.