Table 3.

Study characteristics and association between anaemia or iron deficiency during postnatal period and mother–child interaction or bonding

Author & Year	Study Design and Setting	Risk of Bias	Sample Size	Assessment Tool	Effect Measure and Significance
Murray-Kolb et al. 2009 [40]	RCT double-blind, placebo; South Africa	Low	N = 95 (IDA-PL; 30, IDA-Fe; 34, and control; 31)	Video recorder	P = 0.007–0.032a
Perez et al. 2005 [41]	RCT double-blind; South Africa	Low	N = 81 (IDA-PL; 21, IDA-Fe; 30 and Control; 30)	Parent/Caregiver Involvement Scale	P < 0.05
Hamm et al. 2020 [23]	RCT open-label; USA	Moderate	N = 66 (single RBCs; 33, multiple RBCs; 33)	Maternal Attachment Inventory	104 (102–104) vs 104 (102–104) p = 0.55b
Dearman et al. 2012 [42]	Case–Control; England	Moderate	N = 115 (anaemic; 57, non-anaemic; 58)	Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire	P > 0.05

Key: ^aRanges in subscale analysis; maternal sensitivity (p = 0.032), structuring (p = 0.026), and non-hostility (p = 0.007)

^bmedian score (range)