Muro 1999 (C).
Study characteristics | ||
Methods |
Design: 3‐arm, cluster‐randomised, community‐based, controlled trial Unit of randomisation: school level |
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Participants |
Setting/location: 5 schools in Dar‐es‐Salaam, Tanzania Sample size: 237 adolescent girls Age range: 14‐17 years Baseline prevalence of anaemia: ~ 48% Inclusion criteria:
Exclusion criterion: girls suffering from infection with fever at the time of the interview |
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Interventions | Participants were allocated to 1 of 3 groups.
Length of the intervention: 8 weeks For the purposes of this review, we compared groups 2 and 3 only. |
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Outcomes |
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Notes |
Comments:
Study start date: August 1996 Study end date: November 1996 Funding source: not available Conflicts of interest: not available |
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Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: method of sequence generation not described |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: each group should have contained a similar number of girls. However, this goal was not reached, because after the schools had been randomly assigned to the 3 groups, the parents of the girls in school 4, who were assigned to receive iron supplementation without communication, did not approve of their daughters receiving iron tablets. The girls from this school were added to the non‐intervention group |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes | High risk | Comment: participants and personnel were aware of the treatment; outcome assessors seemed to be aware of the treatment |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | Comment: 100% of participants finished the treatment |
Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: insufficient information to permit judgement |
Other bias | Low risk | Comment: study appeared to be free of other bias |