A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 8 studies with a total of 2 574 subjects. Using two doses of vitamin A (200 000 IU) on consecutive days was associated with a reduction in the risk of mortality in children under the age of two years (RR 0.21; 95% CI 0.07 to 0.66) and a statistically nonsignificant reduction in the risk of pneumonia-specific mortality (RR 0.57; 95% CI 0.24 to 1.37). When all the studies were pooled using the random-effects model there was no statistically significant reduction in the risk of mortality in the vitamin A group (RR 0.70; 95% CI 0.42 to 1.15). There was no evidence that vitamin A in a single dose was associated with a reduced risk of mortality among children with measles. There was a reduction in the incidence of croup (RR 0.53; 95% CI 0.29 to 0.89) but no significant reduction in the incidence of pneumonia (RR 0.92; 95% CI 0.69 to 1.22) or diarrhoea (RR 0.80; 95% CI 0.27 to 2.34) with two doses.
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