title: Vitamin A status of children in the urban slums of Karachi, Pakistan, assessed by clinical, dietary, and biochemical methods.
abstract: We assessed the vitamin A status of 532 children with an age range of 6-60 months who were living in slum areas of Karachi, Pakistan, using three methodologies: clinical eye examination, dietary vitamin A intake, and serum retinol level. No definite clinical signs of xerophthalmia were observed in any of these children. The mean +/- SD vitamin A intake estimated from a food frequency questionnaire for the group with inadequate (low and deficient) serum retinol levels (< 20 micrograms/dl) was 362 +/- 332 retinol equivalents (RE) compared with 431 +/- 332) RE in the group with adequate serum levels (P < 0.005). Deficient serum retinol levels (< 10 micrograms/dl) were present in 12 children (2%); two of these had a healed corneal scar. Low serum retinol levels (10-19 micrograms/dl) were present in 46%, while 51% children had adequate levels (> or = 20 micrograms/dl). The mean +/- SD serum retinol level for the inadequate (< 20 micrograms/dl) and adequate groups were 15.3 +/- 2.8 and 26.6 +/- 6.7 micrograms/dl, respectively. These results suggest that a significant number of children in these communities have low vitamin A levels and thus may constitute an at risk group. These results also suggest that the dietary intake method may be a simple and inexpensive screening tool for assessment of vitamin A status in communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Aga Khan University Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molla
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Badruddin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khurshid
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Molla
authors.forename: F N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Rahaman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Durrani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suria
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hendricks
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015930:Diet Records; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood*; D014802:Vitamin A Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014985:Xerophthalmia / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins; D014801:Vitamin A