title: Vitamin A for preventing secondary infections in children with measles--a systematic review.
abstract: The objective of the present study was to determine whether vitamin A prevents pneumonia, diarrhoea and other infections in children with measles. A meta-analysis was carried out of randomized controlled trials identified through a systematic search of the medical literature for studies that used vitamin A to treat measles. A total of 492 children, aged from 6 months to 13 years, were supplemented with vitamin A, and 536 children were given placebo in six trials, five of which were conducted in hospitals and one in a community setting. The main outcome measures were: incidence of pneumonia, diarrhoea, croup, and otitis media; and duration of pneumonia, diarrhoea, fever and hospitalization. There was no significant reduction in the incidence of pneumonia or diarrhoea but there was a 47 per cent reduction in the incidence of croup (RR = 0.53; 95 per cent CI = 0.29-0.89) in children who were treated with 200 000 IU of vitamin A on 2 consecutive days. Only one study reported a 74 per cent reduction in the incidence of otitis media (RR = 0.26 95 per cent CI = 0.05-0.92). There was a statistically significant decrease in the duration of diarrhoea, pneumonia, hospital stay and fever in individual studies. It was concluded that vitamin A does have a beneficial effect on morbidity associated with measles and should be used as a treatment for hospitalized measles cases.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. rennie.dsouza@anu.edu.au
authors.forename: Rennie M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: D'Souza
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: D'Souza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003440:Croup / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008457:Measles / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D014801:Vitamin A