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Risk factors for nightblindness among women of childbearing age in Cambodia

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 57, pages 1627–1632 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To characterize risk factors for nightblindness among nonpregnant women of childbearing age, a group recently recognized to be at high risk of vitamin A deficiency in some developing countries.

Design: Case–control study.

Setting: The study included >15 000 households in National Micronutrient Survey of Cambodia conducted in 2000.

Subjects: The prevalence of nightblindness among 13 358 nonpregnant women was 2.0%. A total of 328 nonpregnant women with nightblindness were matched by province with 1009 nonpregnant women without nightblindness.

Methods: Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) as estimates of the relative risk of factors associated with nightblindness.

Results: In a final model, materials in the wall of the house (OR 1.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9–2.0), land ownership ≤0.5 hectares (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0–1.9), nightblindness in last pregnancy (OR 44.5, 95% CI 29.2–67.8), parity >3 (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0–2.1), diarrhea within the last 2 weeks (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3–2.8), maternal body mass index <18.5 (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2–2.7), and lack of consumption of vitamin A-rich animal foods in the last 24 h (1–60 retinol equivalents (RE) OR 1.1 , 95% CI 0.7–1.6; ≥60 RE, OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.4–1.0) were associated with nightblindness among nonpregnant women.

Conclusions: Women of childbearing age in Cambodia with low socioeconomic status, low consumption of vitamin A-rich animal foods, a history of nightblindness during the previous pregnancy, parity >3, malnutrition, and diarrhea have a higher risk of nightblindness.

Sponsorship: United States Agency for International Development (442-G-00-95-00515–00).

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Acknowledgements

We thank HE Dr Mum Bunheng and Professor Dr Eng Hout, Ministry of Health, and HE Hou Taing Eng, Ministry of Planning, for their support in conducting the National Micronutrient Survey. The Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Rural Development were kind to allow their staff to assist with data collection as survey team members. We thank the provincial, district, commune, and village authorities for their logistic, management, and supervision support, the survey teams of more than 130 persons who were committed and worked diligently to collect data throughout the country, and we thank the members of the more than 15 000 households for their participation and time spent with the survey teams. We thank the HKI Jakarta data entry department for their assistance with designing, training, implementing, and supervision of data entry, and the data entry operators. This work was supported in part by the United States Agency for International Development (HRN-A-00-98-00013-00), and the National Institutes of Health (HD30042, HD32247).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    R D Semba

  2. Helen Keller International, Asia Pacific Regional Office, Jakarta, Indonesia

    S de Pee & M W Bloem

  3. Helen Keller International National Office, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia

    D Panagides

  4. Ministry of Health, Government of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cambodia

    O Poly

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  1. R D Semba
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  2. S de Pee
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  4. O Poly
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  5. M W Bloem
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Correspondence to R D Semba.

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Semba, R., de Pee, S., Panagides, D. et al. Risk factors for nightblindness among women of childbearing age in Cambodia. Eur J Clin Nutr 57, 1627–1632 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601734

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