Analysis on the status of vitamin A deficiency among children under 5 years old in poor rural areas of 6 Western Chinese provinces in 2009 / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the status of vitamin A deficiency among children under 5 years old in poor rural areas of 6 Western Chinese provinces in 2009.Methods The study subjects involved 2091 children from a program-'Appropriate measurements in improving children under-nutrition in poor rural areas'.Results In 2009,prevalence of vitamin A deficiency among children under 5 years old from the poor rural areas of 6 western Chinese provinces was 20.2％,with boys as 20.6％ and girls as 19.7％.Prevalence rates of vitamin A deficiency among children under 5 years old in the highest and lowest areas were seen in Gansu(25.5％)and Guangxi(12.2％)provinces,respectively.The peak of vitamin A deficiency prevalence fell in the 6-11 months age group.The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency declined along with the increase of age.Conclusion Results from this study demonstrated that vitamin A deficiency among children under 5 years old appeared to be a serious public health problem in the poor rural areas of 6 Western Chinese provinces.Education on reasonable ways of feeding and provision of complementary nutrients to children with vitamin A deficiency,should be the key points in the prevention and control programs on this problem.