ASSOCIATION OF DIARRHEA AND LOW SERUM RETINOL IN PERUVIAN CHILDREN

To examine the relationship between acute diarrhea and vitamin A statu s, a study was conducted in 137 children (72 with diarrhea and 65 illn ess-free control subjects) in the city of Lima, Peru. Serum retinol wa s measured spectrophotometrically in samples collected in 1987 and kep t frozen until they were analyzed simultaneously in 1989. Serum retino l was significantly lower in the children with diarrhea (xBAR +/- SD: 0.51 +/- 0.48 mumol/L) than in those without diarrhea (1.00 +/- 0.32 m umol/L; 1 mumol/L retinol = 28.6 mug/dL). The multivariate estimate of the effect of diarrhea (-0.464 mumol/L) in a model that incorporated age, sex, and acute malnutrition (ie, weight-for-height) as confoundin g variables was essentially the same as the unadjusted difference (-0. 492 mumol/L). Thus, this model showed that the retinol concentration i n the serum depends greatly on the presence of diarrhea. These finding s suggest that diarrhea, as has been shown for other infections, may l ead to lower circulating retinol concentrations and perhaps to its dep letion.