Vitamin A Deficiency and Other Nutritional Indices During Pregnancy in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: Prevalence, Clinical Correlates, and Outcome

Vitamin A levels in plasma and other nutritional indices were measured during pregnancy for 449 women enrolled in a multicenter cohort study of mother-to-infant transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). During the third trimester, 29.6% of the women had low (20 to <30 microg/dL) and 11.1% had very low (<20 microg/dL) vitamin A levels. Vitamin A and body mass index, serum albumin levels, and hemoglobin levels were weakly correlated. After adjustment for other covariates, women with low and very low vitamin A levels before the third trimester were more likely to deliver infants with low birth weight (<2500 g) than were those with higher levels (odds ratio [OR], 4.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.57-13.4; and OR, 6.99; 95% CI, 1.09-45.0, respectively). However, there was no statistically significant association between vitamin A level and mother-to-infant transmission of HIV-1. Anemia and low body mass index before the third trimester were associated with an increased risk of transmission in univariate analyses but not in multivariate analyses.