title: Vitamin A supplementation and childhood morbidity from diarrhea and respiratory infections: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To perform an updated meta-analysis of the effect of vitamin A supplementation on childhood morbidity from respiratory tract infections and diarrhea. Study design A comprehensive search of the 1966 to 2000 MEDLINE database and review of the reference lists of relevant articles identified 9 randomized controlled trials dealing with morbidity from respiratory infections and diarrhea in children 6 months to 7 years of age and provided "intention-to-treat" data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The combined results indicated that vitamin A supplementation has no consistent overall protective effect on the incidence of diarrhea (relative risk, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.94-1.07) and that it slightly increases the incidence of respiratory tract infections (relative risk, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.05-1.11).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-dose vitamin A supplements are not recommended on a routine basis for all preschool children and should be offered only to individuals or populations with vitamin A deficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tiqwa, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Itamar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grotto
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mimouni
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gdalevich
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mimouni
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000517:prevention & control; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D014801:Vitamin A