Does vitamin A supplementation reduce deaths in young children?

Bottom Line

Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) is associated with a clinically meaningful reduction in morbidity and mortality in children. At longest follow-up, there was a 12% observed reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality for VAS compared with control using a fixed-effect model (risk ratio (RR) 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83 to 0.93; high-certainty evidence). (S1)

Cochrane (2022) rated the evidence on all-cause mortality as high certainty.

The registry also contains 1 later systematic review or guideline on this question (2024). It is not summarised here; see the full list in Research Rail.

Sources

1. S1 Vitamin A supplementation for preventing morbidity and mortality in children from six months to five years of age. Imdad A, Mayo-Wilson E, Haykal MR et al. · 2022 Mar 16 · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Systematic review / meta-analysis

This report screened 49 items (43 research or guidance records, 6 community posts); the full list is available in Research Rail.