Vitamin A deficiency and protein-energy malnutrition in a sample of pre-school age children in the Kivu Province in Zaire.
Eur J Clin Nutr
; 50(7): 456-61, 1996 Jul.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-8862482
OBJECTIVE: To assess pre-school age children's vitamin A status in a population where protein-energy malnutrition is endemic and serum retinol binding protein and transtyretin concentrations are low. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Health district of Katana, South-Kivu, Zaire. SUBJECTS: 415 pre-school age children. METHODS: Three methods were used to assess vitamin A status: ophtalmological examination, retinol serum concentration and Relative Dose Response (RDR) test. RESULTS: The only ophthalmological signs of vitamin A deficiency appeared in two cases of night blindness, which represents a prevalence of 0.7%. Deficient serum retinol concentration (< 0.35 mumol/l) was found in 19.7% of the whole study population and in 10.4% of non-infected children in good nutritional status. RDR test carried out on a reduced sample of 79 subjects was abnormal for 7.6% of the children but showed a low sensitivity when compared with serum retinol concentration. CONCLUSION: This survey suggests that in this population of the South-Kivu Province in Zaire, vitamin A deficiency co-exists with protein-energy malnutrition and is a public health problem even with non-malnourished and non-infected children.
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Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Vitamina A
/
Deficiencia de Vitamina A
/
Desnutrición Proteico-Calórica
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
País/Región como asunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Eur J Clin Nutr
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO
Año:
1996
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Bélgica
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido