Vitamin A supplements and mortality related to measles: A randomised clinical trial

One hundred and eighty children admitted with measles were randomly allocated to receive routine treatment alone or with additional large doses of vitamin A (200 000 IU orally immediately and again the next day). Baseline characteristics of the two groups were virtually identical for, age, severity of measles, and vitamin A and general nutritional states. In 91% of the children serum vitamin A concentrations were less than 0·56 μmol/1. Of the 88 subjects given vitamin A supplements, six (7%) died; of the 92 controls, 12 (13%) died (p=0·13). This difference in mortality was most obvious for children aged under 2 years (one death out of 46 children receiving supplements versus seven deaths out of 42 controls; p<0·05) and for cases complicated by croup or laryngotracheobronchitis. Mortality was several times higher in marasmic than in better nourished children, regardless of study allocation (p<0·01).