Vitamin A supplementation every 6 months with retinol in 1 million pre-school children in north India: DEVTA, a cluster-randomised trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In north India, vitamin A deficiency (retinol <0·70 μmol/L) is common in pre-school children and 2-3% die at ages 1·0-6·0 years. We aimed to assess whether periodic vitamin A supplementation could reduce this mortality.

Methods

Participants in this cluster-randomised trial were pre-school children in the defined catchment areas of 8338 state-staffed village child-care centres (under-5 population 1 million) in 72 administrative blocks. Groups of four neighbouring blocks (clusters) were cluster-randomly allocated in Oxford, UK, between 6-monthly vitamin A (retinol capsule of 200,000 IU retinyl acetate in oil, to be cut and dripped into the child's mouth every 6 months), albendazole (400 mg tablet every 6 months), both, or neither (open control). Analyses of retinol

SUBMITTER: Awasthi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3647148 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature