Nutrition status of vitamin A among residents in major cities of Fujian province

Objective To evaluate the nutrition status of vitamin A among the residents in major cities of Fujian province.Methods Blood samples were collected from the residents in Fuzhou and Xiamen city,which were the cities sampled for National Nutrition and Health Survey 2010.A total of 392 subjects were randomly selected according to sampling requirements for vitamin A determination.The serum retinol levels were determined with high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) coupled with ultraviolate detector and quantified with internal standard method.Results There was gender difference(F=7.267,P=0.005) in serum vitamin A concentration but there was no significant difference in vitamin A concentration between the residents of Fuzhou and Xiamen(F=0.004,P=0.949).The vitamin A deficiency among the residents was 3.3%,and the marginal vitamin A deficiency was 14.3%.The prevalences of vitamin A deficiency and marginal vitamin A deficiency were decreased with age(χ²=18.90,P<0.001).There were no significant differences in the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency between the residents of different gender(χ²=1.99,P=0.37) and cities(χ²=2.15,P=0.34).Conclusion The vitamin A nutrition status in the residents of major cities in Fujian province is not optimistic and attention should be paid to the problem in the residents.The vitamin A deficiency and marginal vitamin A deficiency decreased with the increment of age in the residents.