Serum Vitamin A Levels in Children with Sickle Cell Anemia: Relationship with Clinical Disease Severity

Abstract

A bstract Background: Oxidative stress underlies the concept of disease severity in sickle cell anemia (SCA), and a significant relationship has been noted between oxidative stress and SCA disease severity. As vitamin A deficiency leads to oxidative stress generation, it is possible that the disease severity may be related to inadequate levels of vitamin A. Objective: This study sought to relate serum vitamin A levels with disease severity in children with SCA. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that recruited 70 children with SCA aged 6–17 years using a systematic random sampling technique and 70 age- and sex-matched haemoglobin AA controls via a consecutive method. Serum vitamin A levels were determined using the atomic absorption spectrophotometry method, while disease severity was obtained using the pretested questionnaire adapted from Adegoke and Kuti. Results: The prevalence of low vitamin A among the subjects was significantly higher when compared to that in the controls ( χ y 2 = 98.47, P = <0.001). The mean serum vitamin A was significantly lower in the subjects compared to the controls ( t = −10.73, P = <0.001). The majority of subjects (61.4%) had mild disease, while eight (11.4%) had severe disease. Serum vitamin A had no significant correlation with severity in SCA ( r = −0.001, P = 0.992). Conclusion: Children with SCA have lower serum vitamin A levels compared to their normal peers, and no relationship exists between disease severity and serum vitamin A in children with SCA. Thus, vitamin A supplementation may not be required in case of severe SCA.