Abstract
Vitamin A administration in children reduces the incidence of severe diarrhea during the subsequent few months. We therefore examined the effect of treatment with vitamin A during acute diarrhea on the episode duration and severity. In a double-blind controlled field trial, 900 children 1 to 5 y of age with acute diarrhea of ≤ 7 d duration were randomly assigned to receive vitamin A (60 mg) or a placebo. Children were followed up at home every alternate day until they recovered from the diarrheal episode. In all study children, those treated with vitamin A had a significantly lower risk of persistent diarrhea [odds ratio (OR) 0.30, 95% confidence interval (Cl) 0.07- 0.97], but there was no effect on the mean diarrheal duration or the mean stool frequency. In the subgroup of children who were not breast-fed, the mean diarrheal duration [ratio of geometric means (GM) 0.84, 95% Cl 0.72- 0.97], mean number of stools passed after the intervention (ratio of GM 0.73, 95% Cl 0.56-0.95), the proportion of episodes lasting ≤14 d (P = 0.002) and the percentage of children who passed watery stools on any study day (OR 0.40, 95% Cl 0.21-0.77) were significantly lower in those treated with vitamin A. We conclude that administration of vitamin A during acute diarrhea may reduce the severity of the episode and the risk of persistent diarrhea in non-breast-fed children. Similar benefit was not seen in breast-fed children.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 59-63 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Journal of Nutrition |
Volume | 127 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1997 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- acute diarrhea
- breast-feeding
- children
- severity
- vitamin A
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Nutrition and Dietetics