Table 1.
Effects of vitamin A allocation on plasma retinol, haemoglobin, weight, height, Bitot's spots, and recent ill health (generally as reported by the child's guardian) in a subsample from each of the 72 blocks during the second half of the study, by age
|
Ages 1·0–2·9 years |
Ages 3·0–6·0 years |
Ages 1·0–6·0 years |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin A (n=810) | Control (n=775) | 95% CI for difference | Vitamin A (n=1771) | Control (n=1809) | 95% CI for difference | Vitamin A (n=2581) | Control (n=2584) | 95% CI for difference | ||
| Biomedical measurements | ||||||||||
| Retinol | ||||||||||
| All participants (μmol/L) | 0·70* | 0·63 | −0·11 to −0·04 | 0·73† | 0·61 | −0·15 to −0·09 | 0·72† | 0·62 | −0·13 to −0·08 | |
| Boys (μmol/L) | 0·71‡ | 0·63 | −0·12 to −0·03 | 0·73† | 0·62 | −0·15 to–0·08 | 0·72† | 0·62 | −0·14 to −0·07 | |
| Girls (μmol/L) | 0·70‡ | 0·64 | −0·11 to −0·02 | 0·74† | 0·61 | −0·15 to–0·09 | 0·72† | 0·62 | −0·13 to −0·08 | |
| Retinol <0·35 μmol/L (%) | 6·9%§ | 11·9% | 1·2 to 8·7 | 5·7%† | 13·6% | 5·1 to10·7 | 6·4%† | 13·3% | 4·2 to 9·6 | |
| Retinol <0·70 μmol/L (%) | 50·9%§ | 61·9% | 4·7 to 17·5 | 47·0%† | 65·6% | 13·4 to 23·7 | 48·7%† | 64·8% | 11·4 to 20·9 | |
| Haemoglobin (g/L) | 95·4 | 94·9 | −2·4 to 1·5 | 103·6 | 103·3 | −1·9 to 1·3 | 99·7 | 99·3 | −1·8 to 1·0 | |
| Weight (kg) | 9·39 | 9·47 | −0·10 to 0·26 | 12·68 | 12·72 | −0·14 to 0·21 | 11·04 | 11·09 | −0·09 to 0·19 | |
| Height (cm) | 74·5 | 74·3 | −0·8 to 0·4 | 88·7 | 88·7 | −0·7 to 0·6 | 81·7 | 81·5 | −0·7 to 0·4 | |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 16·9 | 17·1 | −0·1 to 0·6 | 16·1 | 16·1 | −0·2 to 0·2 | 16·5 | 16·6 | −0·1 to 0·3 | |
| Eye problems (% prevalence) | ||||||||||
| Bitot's spots | 1·0% | 1·8% | −0·5 to 2·1 | 2·2%‡ | 4·8% | 0·9 to 4·3 | 1·4%‡ | 3·5% | 0·8 to 3·4 | |
| Bitot's spots or night blindness | 1·0% | 1·9% | −0·5 to 2·1 | 2·3%‡ | 5·0% | 0·9 to 4·3 | 1·5%‡ | 3·6% | 0·8 to 3·4 | |
| Boys | 1·8% | 1·7% | −1·7 to 1·7 | 3·8% | 6·0% | −0·4 to 4·9 | 2·7% | 4·5% | −0·2 to 3·7 | |
| Girls | 0·6% | 2·4% | −0·5 to 4·2 | 1·0%‡ | 3·8% | 0·9 to 4·6 | 0·4%‡ | 2·9% | 1·0 to 3·9 | |
| Bitot's spots, night blindness, or conjunctivitis in past 4 weeks | 2·3% | 4·6% | 0·5 to 4·1 | 3·9%‡ | 7·4% | 1·4 to 5·6 | 3·0%* | 6·2% | 1·4 to 4·9 | |
| Illness in past 4 weeks (% prevalence) | ||||||||||
| Conjunctivitis | 1·3% | 2·9% | 0·1 to 3·1 | 1·6% | 2·7% | −0·1 to 2·4 | 1·5%§ | 2·8% | 0·2 to 2·4 | |
| Diarrhoea | 39·0% | 44·1% | −1·8 to 12·0 | 32·2% | 34·5% | −2·2 to 6·9 | 36·1% | 39·0% | −1·3 to 7·1 | |
| Cough | 17·1% | 20·5% | −1·3 to 8·1 | 17·5% | 18·0% | −2·8 to 3·8 | 17·5% | 19·0% | −1·8 to 4·7 | |
| Runny nose | 13·8% | 13·6% | −5·5 to 5·2 | 10·4% | 11·7% | −1·9 to 4·5 | 11·5% | 12·6% | −2·1 to 4·1 | |
| Fast breathing | 3·7% | 5·0% | −1·1 to 3·7 | 2·3%‡ | 4·1% | 0·6 to 3·1 | 2·8%§ | 4·4% | 0·4 to 2·8 | |
| Difficult breathing | 3·6% | 4·5% | −1·3 to 3·1 | 2·3% | 3·5% | 0·0 to 2·4 | 2·9% | 3·9% | −0·2 to 2·2 | |
| Noisy breathing | 2·7% | 3·0% | −1·7 to 2·3 | 1·9% | 2·3% | −0·7 to 1·5 | 2·2% | 2·7% | −0·6 to 1·5 | |
| Measles | 1·8% | 1·4% | −1·6 to 0·9 | 1·3% | 0·6% | −1·6 to 0·3 | 1·5% | 1·0% | −1·4 to 0·3 | |
| Fever | 34·1% | 35·3% | −4·2 to 6·6 | 28·0% | 28·6% | −3·3 to 4·6 | 30·4% | 31·3% | −2·5 to 4·3 | |
| Skin infection | 14·0% | 14·6% | −3·4 to 4·5 | 12·4% | 15·0% | −1·1 to 6·3 | 13·2% | 15·1% | −1·5 to 5·3 | |
Biomedical visit to one random village per block per year (from mid-study): 5165 children with no data missing. Data from examination of children and caregiver interviews. Each entry is the mean of 36 block-specific values. The 95% CIs reflect possible effects of randomly choosing 36 out of the 72 block-specific values, ignoring the stratification. Results are standardised to ages 2·0, 4·0, or 3·0 years, respectively, for ages 1·0–2·9, 3·0–6·0, or 1·0–6·0 years, and to 50:50 averages for half-year season (dry/wet). Height, weight, and body-mass index (BMI) are further standardised for study half-years. Except where indicated, results are standardised 50:50 for sex. Compliance with previous vitamin A dosage was 90% in these children, but about 86% in all children allocated vitamin A.
p<0·001.
p<0·00001.
p<0·01.
Two-sided p<0·05.