The aim of our study was to examine the association of vitamin A status with obesity and the metabolic syndrome (MS) in school-age children in Chongqing, China. A cross-sectional study was conducted of 1,928 children aged 7~11 years from 5 schools in Chongqing, China. Body height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and blood pressure were measured. Blood glucose, lipids and vitamin A were determined. Overall prevalences for overweight, obesity and MS were 10.1%, 6.7% and 3.5%, respectively. There were 274 (14.2%) marginally vitamin A deficient (MVAD) children and 53 (2.8%) vitamin A deficient (VAD) children, respectively. Serum vitamin A in the obese group was significantly lower than in the overweight and normal weight groups (p<0.001). Body mass index (BMI), WC, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and glucose were strongly associated with vitamin A status (p<0.05). In a separate model adjusted for age and sex, compared with normal children, participants with obesity had a significantly higher risk of having vitamin A insufficiency (<=1.05 μmol/L) (OR: 2.37; 95% CI: 1.59, 3.55) (p<0.001), and participants with MS had a 1.99-fold (95% CI: 1.14, 3.47) greater risk of having vitamin A insufficiency (p=0.016), while participants with VAD had significantly higher risk of having MS (OR: 3.82; 95% CI: 1.44, 10.2) (p=0.007). Vitamin A insufficiency among Chongqing urban school-age children was found to be a severe health problem, significantly associated with obesity, hypertriglyceridemia and MS.
本研究旨在观察中国重庆地区学龄期儿童维生素A 营养状况与肥胖和代谢综 合征的关系。横断面调查重庆市渝中区5 所小学共1,928 名学龄期儿童。检查 其身高、体重、腰围和血压水平，检测其血清维生素A、血糖和血脂水平。结 果显示，调查对象的超重率为10.1%，肥胖率为6.7%；代谢综合征发生率为 3.5%；维生素A 缺乏（VAD）发生率为2.8%，边缘型维生素A 缺乏 （MVAD）发生率为14.2%。肥胖组儿童血清维生素A 水平显著低于超重组 和正常组。体质指数、腰围、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇和血糖水平与维生素A 营 养状况有关（p<0.05）。校正年龄和性别后，肥胖儿童发生维生素A 不足 （<=1.05 μmol/L）的风险是正常儿童的2.37 倍（95% CI：1.59，3.55) ， （p<0.001），代谢综合征儿童发生维生素A 不足的风险是正常儿童的1.99 倍 （95% CI：1.14，3.47，p=0.016），同时我们发现，VAD 的儿童发生代谢综 合征的风险是正常儿童的3.82 倍（95% CI：1.44，10.2，p=0.007）。重庆市 城区学龄期儿童VA 不足的发生率较高，是一个较严重的健康问题，维生素A 不足与肥胖和代谢综合征有关。.