Vitamin A deficiency and xerophthalmia in western Yemen.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of xerophthalmia and the extent of vitamin A deficiency in western Yemen.

DESIGN

A stratified cluster sample of children aged 1-5 years with clinical examination for signs of xerophthalmia as well as blood serum survey.

SETTING

The 18 districts of western Yemen, of which 10 clusters were chosen at random.

SUBJECTS: All children aged 1-5 years resident in the cluster sites (n = 2438).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical signs of xerophthalmia, a history of night blindness, serum retinol levels in a random sample of clinically normal children (n =338) in addition to all children with xerophthalmia.

RESULTS

Night blindness was found in 0.5% of the children, Bitot's spots in 1.7%, corneal ulceration in 0.04% and corneal scars in 0.04% Of the subsample, 7.2% (95% confidence interval [c.i.] 4.4-10.0%) had serum retinol values below 10 micrograms/dl; 63.0% (95% c.i. 57.6- 68.4%) had values below 20 micrograms/dl.

CONCLUSIONS

Xerophthalmia and vitamin A deficiency are public health problems in western Yemen.