Abstract
Globally, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) affects about 19.1 million pregnant women. Its occurrence is classically associated with inadequate food intake and may also be associated with socioeconomic factors and the presence of infection. The aim of this study was to determine the factors related to serum retinol levels among pregnant teenagers. The sample consisted of 89 pregnant adolescents, from whom socioeconomic, obstetric, anthropometric, and food consumption data were collected. Serum concentrations of retinol and the supposed presence of infection were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography and C-reactive protein quantification, respectively. The serum retinol concentrations were classified according to the criteria of the World Health Organization. We adopted a 5% significance level for all statistical tests. Serum retinol levels were significantly and positively associated with sanitation (p = 0.008) and pre-gestational nutritional status (p = 0.002), and negatively with the trimester (p = 0.001). The appropriate sanitation conditions and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) were shown to have a protective effect against VAD. Conversely, serum retinol levels were reduced with trimester progression, favoring VAD occurrence.
Highlights
Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient for all life cycles, especially in times of intense cell proliferation and differentiation, such as in pregnancy
Inclusion criteria were that participants were pregnant adolescents who initiated prenatal care at 20 weeks or less of gestation; that they did not receive vitamin supplements containing vitamin A up to 5 months before conception and during pregnancy; that they were not carriers of disease clinically proven to start pre-pregnancy, that they were nonsmokers, and that they were experiencing single-fetus pregnancies
We evaluated the intake of vitamin A, zinc, and iron, with the latter two predicted to be involved in vitamin A
Summary
Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient for all life cycles, especially in times of intense cell proliferation and differentiation, such as in pregnancy. Vitamin A is important for cell division, growth, and maturation of fetal organ and skeletal systems. It is important for the development and maintenance of the immune and visual systems [1,2,3]. Nutrients 2016, 8, 669 should receive sufficient and adequate nutrition for her own physical growth and physiological development [4]. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is considered a public health problem and is among the main micronutrient deficiencies, present in more than 100 countries, including Brazil [5,6,7]. VAD affects about 19.1 million pregnant women, and its presence in pregnancy may contribute to infections [8], prematurity [9], anemia [10], and malformations [11], compromising the outcome of pregnancy
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