OBJECTIVETo understand the prevalence and spatial distribution of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in China among children at ages under six years.

METHODSAbout 8,600 children under 6 years of age in 14 cities and 28 counties of 14 provinces were selected with stratified cluster sampling for survey, including interview with questionnaire for their family information and nutritional status. Blood specimens were collected for measuring serum level of VA with fluorescent spectrophotometry in laboratory.

RESULTSTotally, 8,669 children under 6 (2,877 in urban area and 5,792 in rural area) were surveyed in 14 provinces, with 4,629 males and 4,040 females. Eight cases of night blindness and seven cases of xerophthalmia were found among the children at ages of two to five years. Sixty-one mothers of the children in this group were also found suffering from night blindness. All the cases of night blindness and xerophthalmia both in children and mothers were living in rural areas. Based on their serum levels of VA, 11.7% of the all 1 018 children were diagnosed as VAD, with serum VA concentrations below or equal to 0.70 micro mol/L. Prevalence of VAD was 15.0% and 5.8% in rural (23.3% in the poverty-stricken counties) and urban areas, respectively, and 5.8%, 11.5% and 16.8% in the coastal, inland and remote areas, respectively. The average serum level of VA was 1.20 micro mol/L and 0.99 micro mol/L for urban and rural areas, respectively, with a national average of 1.06 micro mol/L. And, babies under six months of age with an average serum levels of VA < or = 0.70 micro mol/L accounted for 33.4%, and those at ages of four to five years with the same level of VA accounted for 8%. There was significant difference in serum levels of VA between ages, but no significant difference between genders.

CONCLUSIONVAD did exist in children of China, especially in the remote and poverty-stricken rural areas and VA supplementation is urgently needed for the children in these regions.