Two different doses of supplemental vitamin A did not affect mortality of normal-birth-weight neonates in Guinea-Bissau in a randomized controlled trial.

Study answer

What this study found

The lower and higher neonatal vitamin A doses did not differ in their effect on mortality, and neither dose reduced infant mortality versus placebo. Mortality rate ratio for 25,000 IU versus 50,000 IU was 0.96 (95% CI 0.67, 1.38); 50,000 IU versus placebo was 1.31 (0.89, 1.93); and 25,000 IU versus placebo was 1.26 (0.85, 1.86). When both vitamin A groups were combined, the mortality rate ratio versus placebo was 1.28 (0.91, 1.81). Subgroup analyses by sex also showed no clear benefit, with boys at 0.79 (0.48, 1.30) and girls at 1.21 (0.70, 2.08).

Study & population

Three-arm randomized controlled trial in Guinea-Bissau among healthy normal-birth-weight neonates (>2500 g) enrolled at birth and given Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination.

Intervention

Neonatal vitamin A supplementation was given as a single oral dose at birth, using retinyl palmitate.

Key limitation

The main analysis was limited by relatively few deaths (160) over 4125 person-years, which reduces precision for detecting modest effects.

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Original abstract