Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of vitamin A
deficiency (VAD) in children under 6 years old in China and to identify risk groups for
VAD.
Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 14 provinces from coastal, inland
and western geographic areas in China.
Setting: One city (urban) and two counties (rural) were randomly selected from each
province as survey areas.
Subjects: About 200 children aged 0–6 years were randomly selected in each survey
area. A blood sample was collected from each child. Data on sociodemographics and
nutrition were obtained by interview of the mother or principal caregiver.
Fluorescence microanalysis was used to analyse serum retinol concentration.
Results: VAD (serum retinol ,0.7mmol l21
) was observed in 957 out of 7826 children
aged 0–6 years (12.2% of the entire study population), whereas severe VAD (serum
retinol ,0.35mmol l21
) was found in 39 children (0.5%). The highest prevalences of
VAD at .1 year of age were observed among children of mothers with minority
ethnicity (22.7%) or poor education (19.8%) and in the poor western area (17.4%).
Conclusions: VAD is a nutritional problem in children in China. Children living in the
poor western area, having a mother with minority ethnicity or a mother with poor
education have a high risk of VAD.