Limited evidence suggested that iron supplementation produced a small improvement in cognitive development but had no effect on physical growth .
CONCLUSIONS : In 2 to 5 year olds , daily iron supplementation increases hemoglobin and ferritin .
There is a concerning lack of data on the effect of iron supplementation on clinical ly important outcomes including anemia , ID anemia , ID , and cognitive development .
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES : Iron deficiency ( ID ) is the most common cause of anemia worldwide .
The prevalence is highest among preschool-aged children .
Iron is widely administered to children with or at risk for ID , but evidence of benefit among 2- to 5-year-old children has not been evaluated by systematic review .
We summarize the evidence for the benefit and safety of daily iron supplementation with regard to hematologic , growth , and cognitive parameters in 2 to 5 year olds .
Long-term oral supplementation with iron is not harmful for young children in a poor community of Bangladesh.
The effect of long-term oral iron supplementation on  morbidity due to diarrhea , dysentery and respiratory infections in 349 children , aged 2 - 48 mo , living in a poor community of Bangladesh , was evaluated in this double-blind study . The treatment group received 125 mg of ferrous gluconate ( 15 mg elemental iron ) plus multivitamins and the controls received only multivitamins , daily for 15 mo . House-to-house visits were made on alternate days by trained community health workers for recording symptoms and duration of illnesses and for monitoring medicine intake . Seventy-six percent of the children continued the syrup for over 1 y. No untoward effects were noticed in either treatment group . The attack rates for diarrhea , dysentery and acute respiratory tract infections ( ARI ) were 3 , 3 and 5 episodes per child per year , respectively . Each episode of diarrhea lasted a mean of 3 d , and those of dysentery and ARI , 5 d. The two treatment groups did not differ in the number of episodes , mean duration of each episode , or total days of illnesses due to diarrhea , dysentery and ARI . However , a 49 % greater number of episodes of dysentery was observed with iron supplementation in a subset of the study children who were less than 12 mo old ( P = 0.03 ) . The results of this study suggest that long-term oral iron supplementation is not harmful for older children in a poor community . Further studies are needed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of iron administration in young infants
Limited evidence suggested that iron supplementation produced a small improvement in cognitive development but had no effect on physical growth .
CONCLUSIONS : In 2 to 5 year olds , daily iron supplementation increases hemoglobin and ferritin .
There is a concerning lack of data on the effect of iron supplementation on clinical ly important outcomes including anemia , ID anemia , ID , and cognitive development .
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES : Iron deficiency ( ID ) is the most common cause of anemia worldwide .
The prevalence is highest among preschool-aged children .
Iron is widely administered to children with or at risk for ID , but evidence of benefit among 2- to 5-year-old children has not been evaluated by systematic review .
We summarize the evidence for the benefit and safety of daily iron supplementation with regard to hematologic , growth , and cognitive parameters in 2 to 5 year olds .