Cause specific mortality, vitamin A supplementation community prevention trials
| Study | Symptoms/diseases | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measles | Diarrheoa | Respiratory | |||||||
| Vitamin A | Control group | Vitamin A | Control group | Vitamin A | Control group | ||||
| Tamil Nadu15 | |||||||||
| No of deaths | 7 | 12 | 16 | 33 | 2 | 3 | |||
| RR2-150 | 0.58 | 0.48 | 0.67 | ||||||
| NNIPS11 | |||||||||
| No of deaths | 3 | 12 | 39 | 62 | 36 | 27 | |||
| RR | 0.24 | 0.61 | 1.29/1.002-151 | ||||||
| Jumla2-154 12 | |||||||||
| No of deaths | 3 | 4 | 94 | 129 | 18 | 17 | |||
| RR | 0.67 | 0.65 | 0.952-152 | ||||||
| Ghana14 | |||||||||
| No of deaths | 61 | 72 | 69 | 111 | 47 | 45 | |||
| RR | 0.82 | 0.662-153 | 1.00 | ||||||
↵2-150 RR (relative risk): cause specific mortality of vitamin A group divided by mortality in control group.
↵2-151 Original published results11: RR=1.29; reanalysis as an associated cause that recognises underlying causes; RR=1.00 (KP West, unpublished data).
↵2-152 Pneumonia case management programme may have confounded results.
↵2-153 Defined as ‘acute gastroenteritis’.
↵2-154 Except for Jumla, findings relate to children already ⩾ 6 months of age when supplemented.
Reprinted with permission from Sommer A, West KP. Vitamin A deficiency: health, survival, and vision. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.