{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,25]],"date-time":"2026-03-25T09:17:06Z","timestamp":1774430226669,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,25]],"date-time":"2026-03-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1774396800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To evaluate the vitamin A nutritional status and identify associated factors among children aged 0\u20136\u202fyears in Quanzhou, China, to support the development of targeted intervention strategies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Method<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study included 1,183 healthy children (0\u20136\u202fyears) from January 2022 to March 2023. Serum retinol was measured via LC\u2013MS\/MS, and anthropometric data were collected. The vitamin A status was compared by gender, age and BMI.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The median serum retinol concentration was 1.12\u202f\u03bcmol\/L (95% CI: 0.94\u20131.29). The overall prevalence of marginal deficiency or deficiency (serum retinol &amp;lt;1.05\u202f\u03bcmol\/L) was 38.89% (460\/1183), with the highest rate observed in infants (65.87%, 166\/252), followed by preschoolers (35.74%, 168\/470) and toddlers (27.33%, 126\/461). Age was a significant predictor of vitamin A sufficiency (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001): toddlers and preschoolers had 5.06 and 3.33 times higher odds of vitamin A sufficiency compared to infants, respectively. Overweight\/obese children showed a higher rate of normal vitamin A status than those with normal or underweight BMI (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.05). No significant differences were found by sex (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;gt;\u202f0.05).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>There is a concerning high prevalence of marginal vitamin A deficiency among young children in Quanzhou, representing a notable public health issue, particularly severe in infants. Interventions should be age-specific and incorporate BMI-related metabolic considerations to effectively address vitamin A insufficiency in this and similar populations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1727761","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,25]],"date-time":"2026-03-25T06:48:30Z","timestamp":1774421310000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["High rate of marginal vitamin A deficiency in children aged 0\u20136\u202fyears in Quanzhou, China: a cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Xiaoyan","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Children Health Care, Quanzhou Women and Children's Hospital","place":["Quanzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"The School of Clinical Medicine, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"The Graduate School of Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyan","family":"Zhuang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Women\u2019s Health Section, Quanzhou Women and Children\u2019s Hospital","place":["Quanzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Huiling","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Children Health Care, Quanzhou Women and Children's Hospital","place":["Quanzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jiajia","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Children Health Care, Quanzhou Women and Children's Hospital","place":["Quanzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qingling","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Children Health Care, Quanzhou Women and Children's Hospital","place":["Quanzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"The School of Clinical Medicine, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"The Graduate School of Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3703","DOI":"10.1080\/10408398.2016.1160362","article-title":"The vicious cycle of vitamin A deficiency: a review","volume":"57","author":"Wiseman","year":"2017","journal-title":"Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1703","DOI":"10.3390\/nu13051703","article-title":"Vitamin A update: forms, sources, kinetics, detection, function, deficiency, therapeutic use and toxicity","volume":"13","author":"Carazo","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nutrients"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"121556074","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2025.1556074","article-title":"Subclinical vitamin A deficiency and associated factors among pregnant women in eastern Ethiopia","volume":"12","author":"Roba","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front Nutr"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"113816","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpeds.2023.113816","article-title":"Hepatic vitamin A concentrations and association with infectious causes of child death","volume":"265","author":"Gupta","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Pediatr"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpeds.2021.05.022","article-title":"Should vitamin A injections to prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia or death be reserved for high-risk infants? 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