Vitamin A deficiency and other nutritional indices during pregnancy in human immunodeficiency virus infection: Prevalence, clinical correlates, and outcome

Vitamin A levels in plasma and other nutritional indices were measured duri ng pregnancy for 449 women enrolled in a multicenter cohort study of mother -to-infant transmission of human immuno deficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Du ring the third trimester, 29.6% of the women had low (20 to <30 mu g/dL) an d 11.1% had very low (<20 mu g/dL) vitamin A levels. Vitamin A and body mas s index, serum albumin levels, and hemoglobin levels were weakly correlated . After adjustment for other covariates, women with low and very low vitami n A levels before the third trimester were more likely to deliver infants w ith low birth weight (<2500 g) than were those with higher levels (odds rat io [OR], 4.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.57-13.4; and OR, 6.99; 95% C I, 1.09-45.0, respectively). However, there was no statistically significan t association between vitamin a level and mother-to-infant transmission of HIV-1, Anemia and low body mass index before the third trimester were assoc iated with an increased risk of transmission in univariate analyses but not in multivariate analyses.