Effect of administration of 200,000 IU of vitamin A to women within 24 hrs after delivery on response to PPV administered to the newborn
Bhaskaram, P.; Balakrishna, N.
Indian Pediatrics 35(3): 217-222
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-6061 PMID: 9707874 Document Number: 495608
A total of 100 mothers to receive either a single oral dose of 200 000 IU vitamin A (experimental group) or placebo (control group). All the newborns were given a dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV) within 72 h after birth and were breast-fed. Type-specific neutralizing antibodies to polio viruses in test sera diluted from 1:4 to 1:512 and serum retinol concentrations were measured from the cord blood and at the age of 6 weeks. Breast milk retinol concentrations were determined at 3, 10, 30, 45 and 90 days of lactation. Seroconversion rates to types 1, 2 and 3 OPV viruses (77.5%, 79.6% and 65.3%, respectively) in the control group were similar to those observed in the experimental group (67.3%, 83.6% and 63.3%, respectively). Geometric means of antibody titres to the 3 types of polio viruses were comparable between the 2 groups of infants at 6 weeks. Breast milk retinol concentrations were significantly higher in the experimental group up to 45-90 days of lactation. 59% of the infants had serum retinol concentrations <15 micro g/100 ml at birth, which improved significantly by 6 weeks, irrespective of the maternal supplementation status. It is concluded that maternal vitamin A supplementation soon after delivery improves vitamin A intakes of breast-fed infants during the first 3 months and does not interfere with the immune response to a neonatal dose of OPV; also OPV administered to breast-fed newborns has no adverse effect on their vitamin A status.