SUMMARY
Prevalence of sub-clinical vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition in slum children in Maracaibo-Venezuela
The present cross sectional study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency among children by means of clinics and conjunctival impression cytology (CIC), and nutritional status by anthropometric indicators H//A, W//A, W//H. The study population included 157 children 2-6 y old, from urban and rural slums of Maracaibo, Venezuela. Conjunctival impression cytology was performed by ICEPO standard procedure. Z - score was applied to anthropometric data with reference values of NCHS-WHO. No evidence of clinical or ophthalmologic signs of vitamin A deficiency were detected. The prevalence of subclinical vitamin A deficiency, as detected by abnormal CIC, was 35.4%, being higher in rural children (48.3%). These prevalence values are higher than the criteria laid down by WHO/UNICEF to indicate a public health problem (>20%). Mild or moderate protein-energy global malnutrition and stunting were detected in 36.1% and 44.6% of children, respectively. Abnormal CIC was indistinctly observed (@ 35%) as much in children with adequate nutrition as in malnourished ones. There was no significant difference in the distribution of the CIC results in relation to nutritional status. The findings indicate that CIC and Z-score of nutritional anthropometric data are useful to characterize the risk of vitamin A deficiency and of malnutrition in communities. Beside the implementation of an integral nutritional program which includes supplementation, food fortification and dietary diversification, improvement of socio-economic and sanitation conditions and also the educational level, with emphasis on nutritional and health education, are highly recommended.

Key words: Vitamin A deficiency, nutritional status, conjunctival impression cytology, children malnutrition.

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PRIVACIDAD | ACCESIBILIDAD ALAN-VE ISSN 0004-0622 - Depósito Legal: pp 199602DF83 Sociedad Latinoamericana de Nutrición Producción editorial en Venezuela: Capítulo Venezolano - RIF: J-30843129-0 Urbanización Santa María, primera transversal, No. 417-214, Planta Alta Tele-Fax: (+58-212) 283.8618 E-mail info@alanrevista.org Código Postal: 1070 Caracas - Venezuela