A Survey on Prevalence and Risk Factors for Vitamin A Deficiency among Children Under 5 Years Old in Southern Border Provinces, Thailand, 2019
Keywords:
prevalence, vitamin A deficiency (VAD), southern border provincesAbstract
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the risks for severe measles. There were 34 measles death cases in 4 southern border provinces in Thailand in 2018-2019 (CFR 0.56%); and 9.18% of them aged under 5 years old. The study aimed to determine prevalence and risk factors for VAD in the areas. A cross-sectional study was conducted; and multistage sampling technique was used to randomly select 7 districts and 12 subdistricts from the 4 provinces. Participants were 218 children aged 6-59 months. They received eye examination, growth assessment, parenting and dietary history interviewing and blood collecting for vitamin A level. VAD was defined as serum vitamin A level <0.70 μmol/L. It was found that there were 64 VAD cases gave the prevalence of 29.36%. The highest prevalence of VAD was in Pattani province (34.09%), with the age group of 49-59 months (36.11%). The prevalence was 31.67% and 28.48% in children with and without malnutrition, respectively. The proportions of children who consumed meat, green vegetables and fruits >3 times/week were less than 50.00%. The study showed a severe public health problem of VAD in the 4 southern border provinces (VAD prevalence>20.00%). The problem was attributable to inadequate dietary consumption.
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