[Prevalence of hypovitaminosis A in children from the semiarid region of Alagoas, northeastern Brazil, 2007].

The aim of the present work was to determine the prevalence of hypovitaminosis A in children <60 months living in the semiarid region of the State of Alagoas, Brazil. The observational, transversal study involved a probabilistic sample of 652 children. Serum levels of retinol were determined using high pressure liquid chromatography and a concentration < 20 microg/dL (0,70 micromol/L) was adopted as the cut-off point indicating vitamin A deficiency. The mean value of retinol was 23.4 +/- 15.0 microg/dL (CI 95% = 22.3 to 24.6 microg/dL), and the prevalence of hypovitaminosis A was 44.8%, which included a significantly higher proportion of females (54.5% vs. 45.5%; odds ratio = 1.41; CI 95% = 1.02 to 1.95). Although there were no significant differences between the five different age ranges studied, the prevalence of hypovitaminosis A was marginally higher (p = 0.09) amongst 12 to 23 month old children. The results indicated that the prevalence of hypovitaminosis A in the population studied was 2.2-times greater than the prevalence established by the World Health Organization (20%) in order to characterise the situation as a severe public health problem. Hence, the control of hypovitaminosis A should constitute an absolute priority on the agenda of governmental authorities in order to guarantee better health and quality of life for this population.