Vitamin A status among children in China

• Published in: Public health nutrition Vol. 9; no. 8; pp. 955 - 960
• Main Authors: Jingxiong, Jiang, Toschke, André Michael, von Kries, Rüdiger, Koletzko, Berthold, Liangming, Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2006
• Subjects: Child; child nutrition; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; China; cross-sectional studies; Deficiency; Education; Ethnicity; Geographic area; growth retardation; Health Surveys; Humans; Infant; infant nutrition; Infant, Newborn; infants; Maternal education; National survey; nutrition assessment; Nutrition Surveys; nutritional status; Nutritional Status - ethnology; Nutritional Status - physiology; Pediatrics; preschool children; Prevalence; protein energy malnutrition; Quality control; Regression analysis; risk groups; school children; Secondary schools; Social Class; sociodemographic characteristics; socioeconomic status; Status; Vitamin A; Vitamin A - blood; Vitamin A Deficiency - epidemiology; Vitamin A Deficiency - ethnology; vitamin deficiencies; China; Beijing China; Atlanta Georgia; United States > US; Status; Vitamin A; Ethnicity; Prevalence; Deficiency; China; National survey; Maternal education; Children; Geographic area
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/PHN2006944

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in children under 6 years old in China and to identify risk groups for VAD. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 14 provinces from coastal, inland and western geographic areas in China. One city (urban) and two counties (rural) were randomly selected from each province as survey areas. About 200 children aged 0-6 years were randomly selected in each survey area. A blood sample was collected from each child. Data on sociodemographics and nutrition were obtained by interview of the mother or principal caregiver. Fluorescence microanalysis was used to analyse serum retinol concentration. VAD (serum retinol <0.7 micro mol l(-1)) was observed in 957 out of 7,826 children aged 0-6 years (12.2% of the entire study population), whereas severe VAD (serum retinol <0.35 micro mol l(-1)) was found in 39 children (0.5%). The highest prevalences of VAD at >1 year of age were observed among children of mothers with minority ethnicity (22.7%) or poor education (19.8%) and in the poor western area (17.4%). VAD is a nutritional problem in children in China. Children living in the poor western area, having a mother with minority ethnicity or a mother with poor education have a high risk of VAD.