title: Giardiasis and poor vitamin A status among aboriginal school children in rural Malaysia.
abstract: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 241 primary schoolchildren in Pahang, Malaysia to update their vitamin A status and to investigate the association of poor vitamin A status with their health and socioeconomic factors. All children were screened for intestinal parasitic infections. Blood samples were collected and vitamin A status was assessed. Socioeconomic data were collected by using pre-tested questionnaires. The results showed that 66 (27.4%) children had low serum retinol levels (< 0.70 micromol/L). Giardiasis and severe ascariasis were significantly associated with low serum retinol levels (P = 0.004 and P = 0.018, respectively). Logistic regression confirmed the significant association of giardiasis with low serum retinol (odds ratio = 2.7, 95% confidence interval = 1.3-5.5). In conclusion, vitamin A deficiency is still a public health problem in rural Malaysia. Vitamin A supplementation and treatment of intestinal parasitic infections should be distributed periodically to these children to improve their health and nutritional status.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. halmekhlafi@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hesham M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Al-Mekhlafi
authors.forename: Johari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Surin
authors.forename: Atiya A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Sallam
authors.forename: Ariffin W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Abdullah
authors.forename: Mohammed A K
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mahdy
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000097:blood; D014802:Vitamin A Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D014801:Vitamin A
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