Serum vitamin A among children aged 0-16 in Nantong / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the serum vitamin A level of children aged 0-16 years in Nantong City, and to provide reference for scientific supplement of vitamin A for children and prevention of related diseases.@*Methods@#A cross-sectional survey method was used to detect the serum vitamin A level of 3 271 children aged 0-16 years old by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in Nantong Maternal and Child Health hospital from January 2017 to December 2018, and the general information of children was collected.@*Results@#The results showed that the average serum vitamin A concentration of 0-16 years old children was(0.31±0.08)mg/L, boys was(0.31±0.08)mg/L, which was lower than that of girls(0.32±0.09)mg/L. The proportion of insufficient and deficient vitamin A in boys was higher than that in girls(P<0.01); The levels of serum vitamin A were different by age groups, from high to low were >12~16, >6~12, >3~6, >1~3, ≤1 years old, the difference was statistically significant(F=3.48，P<0.05). The results showed that the proportion of normal, insufficient and deficient vitamin A in rural children were 51.2%, 43.5% and 5.3%, respectively. The proportion of vitamin A deficiency and deficiency in rural children was higher than that in urban areas(χ2=18.86，P<0.01).@*Conclusion@#The proportion of vitamin A insufficieng and deficiency among children in Nantong is higher, boys show worse vitamin A status compared of girls. More attention should be paid to these children and prevention of related diseases.