Mortality effects of vitamin A supplementation in children <5 years do not vary by dosing frequency, total dose, or duration

Objectives:
Although vitamin A supplementation reduces child mortality, it remains unclear whether dosing frequency, total dose, or duration modifies effectiveness. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.

Do mortality effects of vitamin A supplementation in children 5 years vary by dosing frequency, total dose, or duration?

Study design:
This review article included 17 RCTs with 1,180,718 children. Mean age was 31.5 months at baseline.
Supplementation frequency ranged every 3 months-every 2 years, supplementation duration 4-60 months [mean = 15.4, SD = 12.8] and total dose 134,361-2,200,000 IU [mean = 667,132 IU, SD = 540,795].

Results and conclusions:
The investigators found compared with control, vitamin A supplementation significantly reduced mortality with 22% [95% CI = 10-32, p = 0.002]. Significantly means that there is an association with a 95% confidence.
This protective effect was not modified by increasing supplementation frequency [dose/year: RR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.98-1.06, p = 0.22], total dose [per 200,000 IU: RR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.97-1.06, p = 0.31], nor supplementation duration [per year: RR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.97-1.15, p = 0.14].

The investigators found multivariate meta-regression showed similar results.

The investigators found sensitivity analyses excluding 1 controversial trial did not alter findings.

The investigators concluded that mortality effects of vitamin A supplementation in children 5 years do not vary by dosing frequency, total dose, or duration.

Original title:
Mortality Benefits of Vitamin A Are Not Affected by Varying Frequency, Total Dose, or Duration of Supplementation by Kranz S, Pimpin L, […], Mozaffarian D.

Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28513263

Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on food fortification/malnutrition and vitamin A right here.