Food, Nutrition, and Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Healthy Starts, British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4H4, Canada.
Nutrients. 2022 Jan 5;14(1):224. doi: 10.3390/nu14010224.
In adolescents, iron-deficiency anemia is the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years lost. The World Health Organization recommends delivering iron supplementation through school-based platforms, requiring partnerships with the education sector. This anemia-reduction intervention is valued for the perceived benefits of improved learning and school performance. This article aims to systematically review the available evidence on the relationship between iron status and anemia and impacts of iron interventions on cognitive and academic performance in adolescents. Fifty studies were included: = 26 cross-sectional and = 24 iron-containing interventions. Our review suggests that iron status and anemia may be associated with academic performance in some contexts and that iron supplementation during adolescence may improve school performance, attention, and concentration. However, nearly all supplementation trials were judged to have moderate or high risk of bias. We did not find evidence suggesting that iron status and anemia influenced or were associated with attention, intelligence, nor memory in adolescents. Further, iron supplementation did not improve memory and recall or intelligence. Overall, more high-quality research is needed to guide programmers and policy makers to understand the relationships between anemia and educational performance and the potential impacts of iron interventions, which effectively reduce anemia, on adolescents' learning and school performance.
在青少年中，缺铁性贫血是导致伤残调整生命年损失的主要原因。世界卫生组织建议通过学校平台提供铁补充剂，这需要与教育部门建立伙伴关系。这种减少贫血的干预措施因其被认为对提高学习和学校表现有益而受到重视。本文旨在系统回顾现有证据，了解铁状态和贫血与青少年认知和学业表现的关系，以及铁干预对其的影响。共纳入 50 项研究：26 项横断面研究和 24 项含铁干预研究。我们的综述表明，在某些情况下，铁状态和贫血可能与学业表现有关，青少年时期补充铁可能会提高学校表现、注意力和专注力。然而，几乎所有的补充试验都被认为存在中度或高度偏倚风险。我们没有发现证据表明铁状态和贫血会影响或与青少年的注意力、智力或记忆力有关。此外，铁补充剂并没有改善记忆力和智力。总的来说，需要更多高质量的研究来指导规划者和决策者了解贫血与教育表现之间的关系，以及有效减少贫血的铁干预措施对青少年学习和学校表现的潜在影响。
