Socioeconomic Factors and Vitamin A Status of Pregnant Women in Calabar Urban, Southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is prevalent in developing countries. Socioeconomic status is increasingly being associated with nutritional status of individuals. Efforts to control or eliminate VAD must focus on socioeconomic factors and how to tackle them in the midst of other well recognized strategies. This research sought to determine the socioeconomic factors that may affect the serum retinol levels of pregnant women in Calabar, Nigeria. A total of 101 pregnant women in Calabar were studied for the effect of socioeconomic factors on the maternal vitamin A status using a structured household questionnaire and biochemical analytical techniques. The study revealed that a majority (82.2%) of the women studied were in their normal reproductive years (20-45 years), 63.4% had previous childbirth experience, 89.1% had formal education, 85% were employed, 85% lived in medium to large families (4 persons and above) while 62.3% were in the middle or high income class (over N50,000 per month). Among the women, only 35.6% had adequate vitamin A status while the rest had deficient (15.8%), low (32.7%) or very high (15.8%) levels. The results of the analysis of the influence of socioeconomic characteristics of the women on serum retinol status showed a positive relationship between serum retinol level and education (P < 0.05; F = 2.84) and between serum retinol level and parity (P < 0.05; F = 2.05). Serum retinol concentration was not affected by age, occupation, household size and other household characteristics used in the study. Increased maternal education and appropriate child spacing may be the key strategies for the elimination and control of vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.

The Prevalence of Vitamin A Deficiency and Associated Factors in Pregnant Women Receiving Prenatal Care at a Reference Maternity Hospital in Northeastern Brazil

“…The findings reported here are similar to those found in China, where a frequency of VAD of 5.2% was found in a group of 1209 pregnant women evaluated in 150 urban or rural areas between 2013 and 2014 [30]. Compared to the present findings, other studies conducted in developing countries using the cut-off point of <0.70 μmol/L reported much higher prevalence rates of VAD in pregnant women: 24.6% in 3270 pregnant women in Iran [31], 20% in a sample of 80 women in Egypt [32], 18.5% in 200 women in Bangladesh [33], 15.8% in 101 women in Nigeria [34], 13.8% in 738 women in Guinea-Bissau [35], and 10.6% in 160 pregnant adolescents in Venezuela [18]. However, only the sample sizes used in the studies conducted in China, Iran, and Guinea-Bissau were large enough to yield robust data.…”

“…The lack of any statistically significant association was probably due to the small number of women in each of the strata compared; therefore, these results need to be taken merely as an indication. However, likewise, other studies have reported lower serum retinol levels with increased parity [30,34,51,56]. This could be explained by the fact that repeat pregnancies reduce or deplete maternal stocks of nutrients [56].…”

Maternal Vitamin A Deficiency during Pregnancy and Its Relation with Maternal and Neonatal Hemoglobin Concentrations among Poor Egyptian Families

“…In a recent study, El-Khashab et al (2013) found that 20% of pregnant women had VAD [15]. In other developing countries, VAD was found among 15.8% (in Nigeria) and 18.8% (in Bangladesh) of pregnant women [16, 17]. The frequency of mothers with retinol intake below the recommended intake (70%) is higher than that reported from other developing countries (53%) [17].…”

Vitamin A Status in the Mother-Child Couple at the University Teaching Hospital of Angondje in Gabon

“…In Kenya in 2007, 33.3% of pregnant women had a retinol rate < 0.7 μmol/L at the 36th week of amenorrhea [10]. In Nigeria, only 36.5% of women out of 101 had normal retinol in 2011 [6]. In Bangladesh, more than half of women out of 200 have a low rate of retinol, and 18.5% of them are deficient in Vitamin A [8].…”