Iron–folic Acid Compliance: An Overlooked Determinant of Maternal Anemia and Birth Outcome

Sir, The prevalence of anemia among pregnant women as per the National Family Health Survey 5 (2019–2021) is 52.2%.[1] We read with great interest the article titled “Change in hemoglobin as compared to absolute hemoglobin as a determinant of birth weight: A secondary data analysis from Eastern India” by Kaur et al.,[2] which addressed an important public health concern dynamic hemoglobin trend as a determinant of birth weight. However, we would like to offer some observations and suggestions regarding the findings that could guide future research in this domain. While the authors rightly acknowledged that “the study fails to adjust for iron supplementation in pregnancy, which is a crucial factor influencing anemia outcomes.” But a striking finding from Table 2 [Association of birth weight with change in mother’s body weight (in kg) (from her prepregnancy weight)] of the article was that those babies having a birth weight