Vitamin A deficiency among school going children affected by flood

Background: Vitamin A deficiency increases the risk of night blindness and death due to common childhood illnesses that are prevalent during emergencies like floods. The relief diet provided to flood victims is often deficient in micronutrients and minerals including vitamin A. There is a need to assess the levels of vitamin A among flood affected children to prevent morbidity and mortality caused by malnutrition

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Objective: To assess the frequency of Vitamin A deficiency among school going children [8-14 years] affected and unaffected by floods of 2010 in district Nowshera

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Subjects and Methods: Study was conducted in Government-registered schools situated in flood affected and unaffected areas of district Nowshera of KPK Province of Pakistan. A total of 353 children [8-14 years] were registered for study, including 190 from flood affected and 163 from unaffected areas. A questionnaire was filled for each child which included the demographic information. Three milliliter blood was drawn from each child which was processed for the estimation of vitamin A levels. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS 20.0

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Results: Among flood affected children frequency of vitamin A deficiency was 18.9%, whereas among flood unaffected children it was 6.1% showing strong association with children affected by floods [p < 0.001].Among illnesses during floods, children who had acute respiratory infection were on an average 3.5 times more likely to have vitamin A deficiency as compared to those who did not suffer from this disease [p = 0.037]

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Conclusion: Vitamin A deficiency was substantially higher among children affected by floods and those who had acute respiratory infection