Vitamin a status of low and normal birth weight infants at birth and in early infancy

Serum retinol levels of low birth weight (LBW; birth weight <2500g) and normal birth weight (NBW; birth weight ≥2500g) infants were evaluated at birth and 3 months using high performance liquid chromatography. At birth, levels were 13.3±8.2 μg/dL in LBW (n=146) and 14.0±6.2 μg/dL in NBW infants (n=79; p=0.51), with 41.1% of LBW and 24.1% of NBW infants having vitamin A deficiency (VAD, <10 μg/dL; P=0.01). At follow up, levels were 18.0±9.4 μg/dL in LBW (n=83) and 20.0±7.3 μg/dL in NBW infants (n=51; P=0.19), with 18.1% of LBW and 3.9% of NBW infants having VAD (P=0.02).