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ARTICLE:
Jill S. Halterman, Jeffrey M. Kaczorowski, C. Andrew Aligne, Peggy Auinger, and Peter G. Szilagyi
Iron Deficiency and Cognitive Achievement Among School-Aged Children and Adolescents in the United States
Pediatrics 2001; 107: 1381-1386 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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J Michael Curry   (4 June 2001)
[Read P3R] Response to Dr. Curry's question
Jill S Halterman   (5 June 2001)

Untitled 4 June 2001
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J Michael Curry,
Physician
NA

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JMichael01{at}Hotmail.Com J Michael Curry

It is my understanding that, for whatever reason, males are as a group more mathmatically adept than females. It doesn't look as if your paper addresses this difference. If you adjust your data to allow for the differing math abilities of males and females, is there then any difference left in their math scores based on the iron level alone?

Response to Dr. Curry's question 5 June 2001
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Jill S Halterman,
Pediatrician
Children's Hospital at Strong at the University of Rochester

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jill_halterman{at}urmc.rochester.edu Jill S Halterman

That is an excellent question. Past studies have shown that females surpass males in math achievement during elementary and middle school years, and a reversal of this trend with male superiority in high school and college years. In this national dataset, the 6-11 year old girls outperformed the boys in math (math scores: 95.6 - girls, 92.8 - boys). Among the 12-16 year old children, the boys' and girls' math scores were equivalent (92.8 - girls, 92.7 - boys). Therefore, the girls' scores dropped between the two age groups, and the boys' scores stayed the same.

Since the prevalence of iron deficiency among the boys is very low, the effect of iron deficiency on boys' math scores cannot be considered. However, if only iron sufficient girls are considered, the drop in math scores between the two age groups is not as dramatic (6-11 year olds - 95.6, 12-16 year olds - 93.5). Further, gender was included as a covariate in the adjusted analysis of the relationship between iron deficiency and cognitive scores. The relationship of iron deficiency and below average math scores was still statistically significant with this adjustment.

These findings suggest that iron deficiency may contribute to declining math scores among girls, and that prevention or treatment of iron deficiency might allow girls to continue to perform better than boys in math during the adolescent years.