title: Vitamin A status in children with asthma.
abstract: Low vitamin A levels have been found in a number of diseases in children. The aim of this study was to examine the vitamin A status in children with asthma and to correlate the changes with severity of disease. Serum levels of vitamin A, retinol-binding protein (RBP), and albumin were estimated in 35 asthmatic children (24 males) in the age group of 2-12 years (mean 5.89 years) and 29 controls (19 males). Both study and control groups were similar with respect to age, sex, and overall nutritional status. Twenty-four children in the study group (68.6%) had moderate to severe persistent asthma and eight children had mild persistent asthma. Only three patients suffered from mild intermittent asthma. Vitamin A levels in children with asthma (mean +/- SD 22.14 +/- 5.38 microg/dl) were found to be significantly lower than their controls (mean +/- SD 27.54 +/- 4.83 microg/dl) (p = 0.0001). Age, age of onset of asthma, and gender had no correlation with serum vitamin A levels. Low serum vitamin A levels (< 20 microg/dl) were observed four times more commonly in the study group (28.6%) than controls (6.9%). Severity of asthma had a negative correlation with serum vitamin A levels (r = - 0.61, p = 0.0001). Children with severe persistent asthma had markedly low serum vitamin A levels (mean +/- SD 13.42 +/- 5.19 microg/dl) as compared with mild intermittent asthma (mean +/- SD 24.61 +/- 2.32 microg/dl). Therapeutic trials are needed to prove whether low vitamin A levels contribute to asthma severity and the clinical utility of vitamin A supplementation in asthmatic children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Kalawati Saran, Children's Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Praveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.forename: Virendra
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Batra
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000097:blood* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014802:Vitamin A Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins; D012709:Serum Albumin; D014801:Vitamin A