Objective To study the effect of iron supplementation on pregnancy outcome in pregnant women with haemoglobin (Hb) ‡13.2 g/dl.Design A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Setting Routine health services.Population Seven hundred and twenty-seven pregnant women with Hb ‡13.2 g/dl in the early stage of the second trimester.Methods Each woman took one tablet of 50 mg of ferrous sulphate daily in the case group (n = 370) or placebo in the control group (n = 357) throughout pregnancy.Main outcome measures Pregnancy outcome.Results While there were no significant differences in demographic and obstetric characteristics between the two groups before any intervention, small-for- Conclusions Our finding proves that routine iron supplementation in nonanaemic women is not rational and may be harmful.Keywords Iron supplementation, nonanaemic women, pregnancy outcome.Please cite this paper as: Ziaei S, Norrozi M, Faghihzadeh S, Jafarbegloo E. A randomised placebo-controlled trial to determine the effect of iron supplementation on pregnancy outcome in pregnant women with haemoglobin ‡ 13.2 g/dl. BJOG 2007;114:684-688.

Background: Test anxiety (TA) can hinder students' academic achievement and cause them educational decline and psychological problems. Objective: The effect of inhalation aromatherapy with lavender essential oil on nursing students' test anxiety was investigated. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study was conducted on 33 nursing students who had taken the Community Health Nursing II course and were going to take its final exam. Before taking the exam of the course, the students were allocated to the aromatherapy (n = 16) and the control groups (n = 17). For the aromatherapy group, ten drops of lavender essential oil was added to one liter of water and the solution was distributed in the room space for fifteen minutes by using a humidifier. However, the humidifier which was used for the control group included of only pure water without any essential oil. The students' test anxiety was measured both before and after the study intervention by employing the Test Anxiety Inventory. Results: There was no significant difference between the study groups regarding the participating students' demographic characteristics as well as the pretest and the posttest values of test anxiety. However, within-group comparisons indicated that in the aromatherapy group, the posttest value of test anxiety was significantly lower than the pretest value. Conclusions: The findings indicated that inhalation aromatherapy with lavender essential oil had no positive effects on students' test anxiety. However, as the level of test anxiety in the aromatherapy group decreased significantly after the intervention and the students in this group reported that aromatherapy was pleasant to them. Aromatherapy is probably insignificant in alleviating acute or state anxieties.

Background:Some pregnant women discontinue iron supplements consumption due to Gastrointestinal (GI) complications, whereas pregnancy induces the same complications physiologically.Objectives:The aim of the present study was to assess GI complications of ferrous sulfate in pregnant women.Patients and Methods:This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was performed on 176 pregnant women referred to prenatal care clinic of Maryam Hospital from April 2011 to February 2012. Pregnant women with Hb ≥ 13.2 gr/dL at 13th - 18th weeks of gestation were selected based on the inclusion criteria and were randomly assigned to the ferrous sulfate and placebo groups. The ferrous sulfate group (n = 90) received a 50-mg ferrous sulfate tablet daily from the 20th week to the end of pregnancy and the placebo group (n = 89) received one placebo tablet in the same way. All participants were visited twice at 24th - 28th and 32nd - 36th weeks to assess the GI complications as well as Hb level to determine the Hb changes in two groups. Chi-square test, t-test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used to analyze the data. P value of < 0.05 and confidence level of 95% were considered as statistically significant.Results:None of the GI complications were significantly different between the ferrous sulfate and placebo groups at 24th - 28th and 32nd - 36th weeks. Hemoglobin drop lower than 10.5 gr/dL at 24th - 28th weeks or lower than 11 g/dL at 32nd - 36th weeks was not observed in any cases.Conclusions:It can be concluded that GI complications in pregnant women using ferrous sulfate are mostly caused by physiologic changes of pregnancy rather than ferrous sulfate; therefore, it is not reasonable to stop using ferrous sulfate due to GI complications.

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