LACK OF ASSOCIATION BETWEEN VITAMIN-A STATUS AND MEASURES OF CONJUNCTIVAL EPITHELIAL INTEGRITY IN YOUNG-CHILDREN IN NORTHERN GHANA

Objective: To investigate the association between vitamin A status and conjunctival epithelial function in young children in rural northern Ghana and to consider whether impaired epithelial function was associa ted with increased measures of systemic infection in these children. D esign: Children were selected from the Ghana Vitamin A Supplementation Trials' Child Health Study, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-contr olled trial of the effect of vitamin A supplementation on morbidity. T reatment group and serum retinol concentrations were used as measures of vitamin A status, conjunctival impression cytology and tear IgA con centrations as measures of conjunctival epithelial integrity, and seru m immunoglobulin and alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein concentrations as indi cators of chronic or acute systemic infection. Subjects: Children 13-6 4 months old. Intervention: 60 mg retinol as retinyl palmitate every 4 months for 1 year. Results: Vitamin A status was not significantly as sociated with epithelial integrity nor with measures of systemic infec tion. Impaired conjunctival epithelial integrity was also not associat ed with increased systemic infection. Conclusions: There was no eviden ce for a major role of improved epithelial integrity and function on t he biochemical indices of chronic or acute systemic infection after vi tamin A supplementation. These data support the observations in the ma in study that vitamin A supplementation did not improve conjunctival i mpression cytology nor decrease the prevalence of most morbidity sympt oms. Sponsorship: This work was supported by the Health and Population Division of the UK Overseas Development Administration, and by the We llcome Trust. Descriptors: alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein, conjunctival ep ithelium, immunity, immunoglobulins, vitamin A