Vitamin A Deficiency and Mother-Infant Correlations in Bolivia

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) affects an estimated one-third of preschool-aged children in developing countries and is an important contributor to global child mortality. The goal of this analysis was to identify risk factors of VAD in a cohort of Bolivian infants. Healthy infants (n=163) were recruited from 2 hospitals in El Alto, Bolivia, and followed from 1 to 6 months of age. Blood specimens taken at 6 months were analyzed for retinol-binding protein (RBP) levels (VAD defined as RBP 5 mg/L) and AGP (>1 g/L) were included in all models to account for inflammation. Prevalence of VAD was 25%. Backwards el...