SynthesisJournal of global health2023
The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency and its public health significance in children in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and modelling analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of global health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Community knowledge, attitudes, and preferences towards vitamin A supplementation in a semi-rural health zone, Kasai Oriental, Democratic Republic of the Congo: a mixed-methods study.Global health action · 2026Article
- Early-Life Vitamin A Deficiency Induces Tissue-Specific Oxylipin Remodeling and Hepatic Inflammation.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Association between serum vitamin A and E status and recurrent respiratory tract infections in children: a propensity score-matched study.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- The Role of Vitamin D and Selected Nutrients in the Development of Myopia in Children and Young Adults: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Pro-Vitamin A Biofortified Cavendish Banana: Trait Stability in the Field.Plant biotechnology journal · 2026Article
- Advancing provitamin A biofortification in sorghum: from allele mining and marker development to prebreeding and breeding.TAG. Theoretical and applied genetics. Theoretische und angewandte Genetik · 2026Article
- Interplay of Gastrointestinal Parasites, Micronutrient Deficiencies, and Anemia in Children from the Bolivian Highlands.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Spatial Distribution and Determinants of Inadequate Vitamin A-Rich Food Consumption Among Children Aged 6-23 Months in Somalia: Evidence from the 2020 Somalia Demographic and Health Survey.Pediatric health, medicine and therapeutics · 2026Article
- High rate of marginal vitamin A deficiency in children aged 0-6 years in Quanzhou, China: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Associations Between Nutritional Factors, Obesity and Ocular Diseases: A Narrative Literature Review.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Effect of prolonged cooking on pro-vitamin A levels of biofortified East African highland bananas.GM crops & food · 2025Article
- Determinants of Vitamin A Consumption Among Children Aged 6-23 Months in Somalia: A Multilevel Analysis of SDHS 2020.Food science & nutrition · 2025Article
- Comparative evaluation of phytochemical, nutritional, in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of cold pressed oils in India.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Global, regional, and national burden of gastrointestinal cancers in early onset and young women, 1990-2021: analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease study 2021.Journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2025Article
- Genetic and environmental factors contributing to anophthalmia and microphthalmia: Current understanding and future directions.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2025Review
- Spatial variations and determinants of vitamin A and iron rich food consumption among Bangladeshi children aged 6-23 months.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Nutritional Support of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Loss of the vitamin A receptor RBPR2 in mice disrupts whole-body retinoid homeostasis and the quantitative balance regulating retinylidene protein synthesis.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025Article
- Trend and Burden of Vitamin A Deficiency in 1990-2021 and Projection to 2050: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is widely recognised as a major public health concern in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite various interventions implemented in many countries, a lack of reliable data is hindering progress. We aimed to consolidate available data and quantify estimates of the prevalence of VAD among children ≤18 years in LMICs. Methods: We searched PubMed, Medline and Embase for studies reported the prevalence of VAD or marginal (m)VAD among children. A multilevel mixed-effects meta-regression approach was applied to establish the regression models for VAD and mVAD prevalence. The total numbers of children affected by VAD and mVAD in LMICs in 2019 were separately calculated from the estimated age- and socio-demographic index (SDI)-specific prevalence with their corresponding United Nations Population Division populations projections. We estimated areas of significant public health concern in 165 LMICs using the lower confidence interval (CI) of VAD prevalence. Results: A total of 116 articles from 40 LMICs were retained. In 2019, VAD and mVAD affected 333.95 million (95% CI = 253.00-433.74) and 556.13 million (95% CI = 388.83-767.94) children and adolescents in 165 LMICs, respectively, corresponding to a prevalence of 14.73% (95% CI = 11.16-19.14) and 24.54% (95% CI = 17.15-33.88). The prevalence of both VAD and mVAD was the highest in children aged 0-5 years at 19.53% (95% CI = 15.03-24.91) and 28.22% (95% CI = 20.00-38.24), respectively, with both steadily decreasing to 10.09% (95% CI = 7.44-13.50) and 20.76% (95% CI = 14.16-29.50) in adolescents aged 13-18 years. The prevalence of VAD was significantly higher in the low SDI region at 29.67% (95% CI = 22.67-37.53) compared to 5.17% (95% CI = 3.14-8.43) estimated in the high-middle SDI region. 68 of the 165 LMICs (41.21%) were classified as areas of moderate to severe VAD public health significance. Conclusions: VAD continues to pose a significant public health concern in many low-income settings. Development in LMICs is a crucial factor for VAD, with a disproportionately higher burden in low SDI regions. Registration: This study protocol was registered with PROSPERO, CRD42020220654.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.