Association of vitamin A deficiency with early childhood stunting in Uganda: A population-based cross-sectional study

Despite the high prevalence of childhood protein-energy malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, their association has not been explored in this region. A better understanding of the epidemiologic link could help define effective preventive strategies. We aimed to explore the ass...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one Vol. 15; no. 5; p. e0233615
Main Authors: Ssentongo, Paddy, Ba, Djibril M., Ssentongo, Anna E., Fronterre, Claudio, Whalen, Andrew, Yang, Yanxu, Ericson, Jessica E., Chinchilli, Vernon M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 29.05.2020
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Age
Agricultural land
Agriculture
Biology and Life Sciences
Child, Preschool
Childhood
Children
Children & youth
Complications and side effects
Cross-Sectional Studies
Datasets
Engineering
Epidemiology
Farmlands
Growing season
Growth disorders
Growth Disorders - complications
Growth Disorders - epidemiology
Health aspects
Health sciences
Humans
Infant
Livestock
Livestock farming
Malnutrition
Medical schools
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mortality
Nutrient deficiency
Nutrition
Nutritional status
Odds Ratio
Pediatric research
People and Places
Physical sciences
Population
Population density
Population studies
Population-based studies
Preschool children
Prevalence
Protein-energy malnutrition
Public health
Retinene
Risk factors
Supplementation
Supplements
Thinness - complications
Thinness - epidemiology
Uganda - epidemiology
Underweight
Vitamin A
Vitamin A deficiency
Vitamin A Deficiency - complications
Vitamin A Deficiency - epidemiology
Vitamin deficiency
Wasting Syndrome - complications
Wasting Syndrome - epidemiology
Uganda
United States > US
Africa
Pennsylvania
Indonesia
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
Online Access:Get full text
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Description
Summary:Despite the high prevalence of childhood protein-energy malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, their association has not been explored in this region. A better understanding of the epidemiologic link could help define effective preventive strategies. We aimed to explore the association of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) with stunting, wasting, and underweight among preschool children in Uganda. We analyzed a population-based, cross-sectional data of 4,765 children aged 6-59 months who participated in 2016 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Uganda. We utilized generalized linear mixed-effects models with logit link function, adjusting for potential confounders to estimate associations between VAD and stunting, wasting, and underweight. The prevalence of VAD was 8.9% (95% CI: 8.1% to 9.6%, n = 424). Twenty-seven percent were stunted (95% CI: 26.1% to 28.6, n = 1302), 4% wasted (95% CI: 3.6% to 4.7%, n = 196), and 17% underweight (95% CI: 16.0% to 18.2%, n = 813). After adjusting for household factors (e.g., wealth index, education and working status of parents, owning land for agriculture, livestock, herds, or farm animals), vitamin A supplementation, and community factors (e.g., population density, crop growing season lengths, place of residence), children with VAD had 43% higher odds of stunted growth than those without VAD (adjusted odds ratio, 1.43 (95% CI: 1.08 to 1.89, p = 0.01). No association was observed between VAD and wasting or underweight. Vitamin A deficiency was associated with higher odds of stunting, and the association was independent of the individual, household, and community-level variables.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0233615