What will taking part in the PANDA study involve?

Find out why it's important to take your tablets.

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Does taking iron tablets during pregnancy help to prevent anaemia?
What is my role in PANDA?

Does taking iron tablets during pregnancy help to prevent anaemia?

We have done a previous study in PANDA to find out what dose of iron is best to give pregnant women and what dose women found comfortable to take. In this next part of PANDA, we are interested in finding out if taking iron tablets during pregnancy can help to stop anaemia from developing when you are pregnant.

When you start in this study you will be allocated to one of two groups at random (like tossing a coin) to either take an iron tablet or to take a placebo (‘dummy’ pill). We will not know, and you will not know, which tablet you are taking. We are asking 11,000 pregnant women to get involved.

What is my role in PANDA?

In the PANDA study you are being asked to take tablets. Remember, half of you will be randomly allocated to one group taking iron tablets and the other half to another group taking a placebo (‘dummy pill’).

To help us understand if taking iron during pregnancy helps to prevent anaemia we need all women in the PANDA study to do their best to take their study tablets (whether this is the iron tablet or the placebo ‘dummy pill’) as closely as possible to what was recommended.

If women don’t take their tablets as recommended, and we find that taking iron during pregnancy does not seem to prevent anaemia, we will not know if this is because taking iron does not work or because women did not manage to take the amount of iron we recommended.

If you can’t take the tablets for any reason, please let the research team know. They can then account for the missing doses when they do the analysis and to help interpret findings more accurately.

We understand though that taking tablets as recommended can be difficult to do for lots of different reasons. For some advice and tips to help with this, see tips for taking your study tablets.

What happens if I don't take my iron supplements as prescribed?

We are trying to work out which of the three doses of iron is best for preventing anaemia and minimising side effects.

We can only do this if women taking part do their best to take their iron supplements as prescribed.

If we give women three tablets a week, but they only take one tablet a week, then we won’t be able to tell if it is one tablet that is effective, or three tablets.

If you can’t take the supplements for any reason, please let the research team know. They can then account for the missing doses when they do the analysis and get the correct results.

Tips for taking your supplements

There may be a number of reasons why it may be difficult to always take your supplements as prescribed.

You may:

Find swallowing the tablets uncomfortable
Find you are having side effects from the tablets
Find that you are too busy to take the tablets
Forget to take the tablets

Here are some tips to help with the most common things that get in the way of taking supplements as prescribed (click to expand):

Swallowing tablets is uncomfortable

I'm too busy / I tend to forget

Keep track of when you take your iron

Make a plan of the exact days and times you will take your iron
Cross off days on your calendar when you have taken a tablet
Keep a tally of the tablets you take
Link electronic calendar reminders to a to-do list
Already using an app to keep track of your medicines? Try using this for your iron supplements as well.

Use reminders to prompt you to take your iron:

Sign up for text reminders from the PANDA team
Add a reminder to your electronic or paper calendar
Set an alarm on your phone or other device
Put a reminder sticker in an obvious place to prompt you
Link your iron taking to another activity in your day e.g., when having fruit juice
Ask someone close to you to remind you to take your iron
Place your iron in an easy to see place (out of the reach of children)

Getting the most from your iron supplements

Try:

Take your iron supplements in the morning, 30 minutes before food, with vitamin C or orange juice.
Do not take your iron supplement with drinks containing caffeine such as tea or coffee.
Although best absorbed on an empty stomach, you may take iron supplements after food to reduce gastrointestinal side effects.
If you are experiencing side effects from taking your supplements, contact the PANDA team who will be happy to help you.