Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial of efficacy of vitamin A treatment in non-measles childhood pneumonia

Study answer

What this study found

No overall improvement in pneumonia duration or adverse outcomes with high-dose vitamin A. Fever by day 3 was lower in the vitamin A group (16% vs 26.4%; P=0.008). The need to change the first-line antibiotic was lower in the vitamin A group (18% vs 25%; rate ratio 0.71; 95% CI 0.50–1.01; P=0.054). Median duration of pneumonia was 7.6 days with vitamin A vs 7.5 days with placebo. Death and other complications were similar between groups. Conclusion: There is little evidence that high-dose vitamin A improves immediate pneumonia outcomes; routine addition to treatment protocols for childhood…

Study & population

Randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial at Barão de Lucena Hospital, Recife, Brazil.

Intervention

Vitamin A in oil capsules: 100,000 IU vitamin A and 20 IU vitamin E per capsule.

Key limitation

Limited power for etiological subgroup analyses; 26 patients from outside Recife were not followed at home.

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Original abstract