Status of vitamin A, vitamin D and comorbidity of both deficiency in Chinese children / 中国儿童保健杂志

ABSTRACT

Vitamin A and vitamin D deficiencies or insufficiencies in children remain global public health problems. The deficiencies of both vitamin A and vitamin D exist in Chinese children, the deficiency of vitamin A is mainly marginal (about 30%) in children aged 0 - 12 years.Vitamin D deficiency and prevalence are common in healthy children aged 0 - 18 years, among which the severe deficiency rate is 2.46%, the deficiency rate is 21.57%, and the marginal deficiency rate is 28.71%.The deficiency rate gradually increases with the increase of age.Since the respective bioactive metabolites of vitamin A and vitamin D, retinoic acid and 1 and 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 have hormone-like properties, and both metabolites are synthesized from their vitamin precursors by different tissues and cells in the body, there may be a synergistic effect between both on target cells remotely by binding to nuclear hormone receptors.A high proportion of concurrent vitamin A and vitamin D deficiencies (comorbidities) in malnourished children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries and poor areas will affect the immune response in a highly specific way, in addition to causing growth and developmental disorders (e.g., growth retardation, motor retardation), it also increases susceptibility to infectious diseases (e.g., recurrent respiratory infections, diarrhea), allergic diseases (e.g., asthma, atopic dermatitis), and neurodevelopmental disorders (touretic disorder, autism spectrum disorder).Therefore, children in the period of growth and development may benefit from supplementing with vitamin A and vitamin D.