Abstract
Abstract Objectives: to examine the nutritional status of vitamin A in Brazilian children under 5 years old, delimiting their deficiency and associated factors. Methods: this is a systematic review of articles published between 2008 and 2018, using the SciELO, Bireme, and PubMed electronic databases. A validated instrument critically evaluated the studies. The summary measures were obtained by the random effect model, and their results are presented using the Forest Plot graph. The qualitative synthesis was based on the description of the main factors associated with Vitamin A Deficiency. Results: we included 14 cross-sectional studies with observations in basic health units, daycare centers, and households. The summary measure indicated Vitamin A Deficiency of 20% (CI95%= 17% - 23%), with high homogeneity according to the source of the sample. Lower age of the child, low birth weight, poor iron nutritional status, diarrhea, subclinical infection, inadequate basic sanitation conditions, younger mothers and less maternal educa-tion represented the main exposures associated with the outcome. Conclusion: the results show Vitamin A Deficiency as a public health problem in Brazilian children under 5 years old, especially when related to the development of infectious processes and maternal and child characteristics that show greater susceptibility.
Highlights
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for a normal vision, maintaining the immune functions, growth, and development
The control of the negative effect of subclinical infection in the serum retinol biomarker reported in eight articles guarantees in these studies an accurate evaluation of the nutritional status of vitamin A, while in the other studies, the possibility of over estimated prevalence should be considered in case of corrections have not been made and inflammatory processes are present in the observed children.[29]
The results show the existence of isolated experiences related to the biochemical evaluation of the nutritional status of vitamin A, similar to findings in aprevious review, specific for children assisted in daycare centers
Summary
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for a normal vision, maintaining the immune functions, growth, and development. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 33.3% of children under 5 years old (190 million) have VAD (serum retinol
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