E. Shahar et al., DOES DIETARY VITAMIN-A PROTECT AGAINST AIRWAY-OBSTRUCTION, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 150(4), 1994, pp. 978-982
Citations number
23
Categorie Soggetti
Emergency Medicine & Critical Care","Respiratory System
A recent report based on data from the first National Health and Nutri
tion Examination Survey suggested that tow intake of vitamin A may be
associated with a greater risk of airway obstruction. We attempted to
replicate these findings in a population-based sample of middle-aged a
dults (n = 15,743) who participated in the baseline examination of the
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Vitamin A intake wa
s estimated from a 66-item food frequency questionnaire, and the prese
nce of airway obstruction was determined by spirometry. Although airwa
y obstruction was associated in ARIC with well-established risk factor
s such as age, sex, and smoking, there was little evidence for a role
of vitamin A. With only one exception, vitamin A intake was unrelated
to airway obstruction in all smoking categories using either categoric
al or continuous measures of lung function (FEV(1), FVC, FEV(1)/FVC).
Only among current smokers in the upper tertile of lifetime cigarette
smoking (> 41 pack-years) was the odds ratio of having airway obstruct
ion for the lowest quartile of vitamin A intake compared with the high
est quartile elevated (1.7 [95% confidence interval 1.1 to 2.7]). Desp
ite some biological plausibility that vitamin A intake may prevent obs
tructive lung disease, the inability to demonstrate association in a l
arger population study, with better estimation of usual dietary intake
, casts doubt on the existence of causal relationship