Table 3.

Anaemia and iron status before and after treatment in preschool children. Values are numbers (percentages) unless otherwise specified

	Iron			Mebendazole
	Placebo (n=176)	Treatment (n=183)		Placebo (n=182)	Treatment (n=177)
Mean (SD) haemoglobin (g/l):
Baseline	86 (15)	86 (15)		86 (15)	85 (15)
12 months	97 (16)	99 (15)		99 (15)	98 (16)
Haemoglobin <110 g/l:
Baseline	169 (96)	178 (97)		174 (96)	173 (98)
12 months	142 (81)	144 (79)		147 (81)	139 (79)
Haemoglobin <70 g/l:
Baseline	26 (15)	28 (15)		21 (12)	33 (19)
12 months	8 (5)	5 (3)		6 (3)	7 (4)
Mean erythrocyte protoporphyrin (μmol/mol):
Baseline*	153	162		155	160
12 months	86	72†		76	80
Mean serum ferritin (μg/l):
Baseline*	29.2	32.5		30.9	30.8
12 months	45.8	60.8‡		58.1	47.9§

^*Geometric mean. 

^†Iron v placebo, P=0.032. 

^‡Iron v placebo, P=0.002. 

^§Mebendazole v placebo, P=0.037.