ABSTRACT
Objectives: Determine the vitamin A status and serum carotenoid levels of adolescent school girls from Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Methods: Serum samples separated from nonfasting venous blood were analyzed for retinol, α-carotene and β-carotene using reversed phase HPLC. The chromatographic separation was performed by isocratic elution with a mixture of methanol, dichloromethane and acetonitile (60:20:20 by volume) and at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The concentrations of retinol and carotenoids were quantified at 325 and 450 nm, respectively. Results: Mean levels of serum retinol and α-carotene were 35.9µg/dL and 10.5µg/dL, respectively and the median value of β-carotene was 46.4µg/dL. About 3% of the school girls were vitamin A deficient and 26% had serum retinol values indicative of marginal vitamin A status. Clinical assessments revealed that 3.7% and 3.2% had Bitot’s spot and night blindness, respectively. About 27% of the girls mentioned the word “HIMA”, a local term for night blindness. Residence, age, hematocrit and β-carotene were the significant predictors of serum retinol concentrations (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Our results demonstrated high levels of marginal vitamin A deficiency in adolescent girls. Because of cultural differences in food preparation, food consumption and food taboos in different parts of the country, our study is not generalizeable to all regions from Ethiopia and thus multicenter studies to substantiate our results and establish the vitamin A status of adolescents are recommended.
ABSTRACT
Objectives: Determine the prevalence and factors contributing to zinc deficiency in adolescent school girls from Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted in 413 randomly selected adolescent school girls. Anthropometric data were collected following standard procedures. Z scores were calculated using the WHO Anthroplus software. Serum zinc was analyzed by ICPMS. To avoid zinc contamination, trace mineral free gloves and pipette tips and only plasticwares were used during analysis and reagent preparation, respectively. Quality control samples (Utak Laboratories, Inc., Valencia, CA) utilized in order to verify method performances were within recommended ranges. Results: Mean (sd) serum zinc concentration was 72.3 (14.3) µg/dL. About 49.2% of the adolescent girls were zinc deficient (< 70 µg/dL). Stunted (72.3±15.9 µg/dL) and non-stunted (72.3±13.9 µg/dL) girls had comparable serum zinc concentrations. Zinc deficiency was severe in 12 and 13 year old girls as were stunting and thinness. Area of residence (p = 0.0001), water source to households (p = 0.0007) and access to household toilet facilities (p=0.0110) were significantly associated with zinc status. Conclusions: Zinc deficiency was common in adolescent girls. The fact that zinc deficiency, stunting and thinness were prevalent at 12 and 13 years of age may reflect the higher growth rate and zinc requirements related to the growth spurt. Improving hygiene and sanitation of households and multicenter surveys to better understand zinc status in Ethiopian adolescent population are recommended.