Vitamin A levels of children with measles in Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

Recent studies show that vitamin A levels decrease during measles and that vitamin A therapy can improve measles outcome in children in the developing world. Vitamin A levels of children with measles have not been studied before in Turkey. Therefore we measured serum vitamin A levels in 21 children with measles and compared the results with "sick" and "healthy" control groups. The mean vitamin A levels in children with measles were markedly lower than in the "sick" and "healthy" control groups (p: 0.001). Vitamin A levels in children with measles ranged from 1.3 to 32 micrograms/dl; 11 (52%) were vitamin A deficient (< 10 micrograms/dl). This frequency among Turkish children supports evaluation of vitamin A status as a part of acute management of measles in Turkey. Clinicians may wish to consider vitamin A therapy for children with measles according to WHO recommendations.