Nabila Khalid, Muhammad Ishaque Channar, Arshad Wahab Shah, Abdul Rahman.
Prevalence of Vitamin a Deficiency among Children <6 Years of age Living in Urban Slums of Lahore.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;7(4):1114-9.

Aims: To investigate ocular manifestation of vitamin A deficiency among children under six years of age living in urban slums of Lahore and to calculate the overall prevalence of VADD as well as that of individual stages of Vitamin A deficiency in these children. My aim was also to draw emphasis on risk factors of VADD and also to find the age and gender distribution of the respondents with the potential risk factors. Study design: Descriptive cross sectional survey. Place and duration of study: Shahdara Town –10th August to 30th September 2011. Methods: This was a descriptive type cross sectional survey performed in slums of Lahore in four union councils of Shahdara Town; in which 400 children upto six years were examined accordingly. Results: Out of 400 children 57% were male children and 43% were female children. 45% of children were in age group 2-4 years. 31% were in 5-6 years of age group and 24% were below 2 years. In my study 95% of children were having normal – good health. 88% of mothers were having normal- good health. 99% of the study children were having vitamin A rich diet in their routine. 92% of the people were those who were having monthly income >10,000 i.e. who fall in low middle to upper middle class. 42% of mothers knew how to read and write. Out of 400 children, 6% were having blephritis, 3% were having conjunctival injection, 2% were having conjunctival discharge, .3% were found to have measles, 3% of children were with marked diarrhea. Factors which are responsible for high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency like poor socioeconomic conditions, increased number of children per household, lack of mother’s education, low monthly family income, lack of proper breast-feeding and inadequate usage of vitamin A rich items. Conclusions: Although short to long term programmes for the prevention and control of vitamin A deficiency are working to some extent, to improve the situation of vitamin A deficiency in these areas more appropriate mix of interventions are needed. More operational research and evaluation are needed to diagnose the problem of vitamin A deficiency. To achieve the goal of virtual elimination of vitamin A deficiency will require the appropriate actions at every level within and across the many sectors of society.

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