Prevalence and Demographic Factors Associated with Vitamin A deficiency in children aged 1 to 4 years from Colombia

Objective: To examine socio-demographic factors associated with sub-clinical Vitamin A deficiency in a representative sample of Colombian children.

Patients and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted of data from the 2010 National Nutrition Survey of Colombia (ENSIN 2010), in 4.279 children aged between 1 and 4 years. Plasma levels of Vitamin A were determined by high-resolution liquid chromatography (HRLC) and associated factors (sex, age, ethnicity, SISBEN score, and geographic region) were collected by structured questionnaire. Prevalences were estimate and associations were established through a multivariable regression model.

Results: We found a range of Vitamin A between 7.5-93.7 µg/dL (mean = 25.7 µg/dL, CI 95% 25.5 to 26.0 µg/dL). 26.2% of children had lower vitamin A levels to 20 µg/dL (sub-clinical deficiency). Children belonging to ethnic groups (afro-colombian), residing in orinoquia and amazonia zone and one year old showed high sub-clinical Vitamin A deficiency (36.5%, 31.7% and 29.7%). Regression models showed that children of one year (OR 1.35 CI 95% 1.11-1.64), to belong to SISBEN score 1 (OR 1.85 CI95% 1.51-2.26), to Afro-colombian groups (OR 1.93 CI95% 1.60-2.33), to reside in orinoquia and amazonia zone (OR 2.46 CI95% 1.86-3.24) and residing in urban areas (OR 1.16 CI95% 1.01-1.33) were associated with sub-clinical Vitamin A deficiency.

Conclusions: Colombian children shows a high prevalence of sub-clinical Vitamin A. Public health interventions are needed in order to reinforce nutritional and educational components in child-health.