Objective: To assess pre-school age children's vitamin A status in a population where protein-energy malnutrition is endemic and serum retinol binding protein and transtyretin concentrations are low.
Design: A cross-sectional study.
Setting: Health district of Katana, South-Kivu, Zaire.
Subjects: 415 pre-school age children.
Methods: Three methods were used to assess vitamin A status: ophtalmological examination, retinol serum concentration and Relative Dose Response (RDR) test.
Results: The only ophthalmological signs of vitamin A deficiency appeared in two cases of night blindness, which represents a prevalence of 0.7%. Deficient serum retinol concentration (< 0.35 mumol/l) was found in 19.7% of the whole study population and in 10.4% of non-infected children in good nutritional status. RDR test carried out on a reduced sample of 79 subjects was abnormal for 7.6% of the children but showed a low sensitivity when compared with serum retinol concentration.
Conclusion: This survey suggests that in this population of the South-Kivu Province in Zaire, vitamin A deficiency co-exists with protein-energy malnutrition and is a public health problem even with non-malnourished and non-infected children.