Objective To assess the impact on mortality related to pregnancy of supplementing women of reproductive age each week with a recommended dietary allowance of vitamin A, either preformed or as carotene. Design Double blind, cluster randomised, placebo controlled field trial. Setting Rural southeast central plains of Nepal (Sarlahi district). Subjects 44 646 married women, of whom 20 119 became pregnant 22 189 times. Intervention 270 wards randomised to 3 groups of 90 each for women to receive weekly a single oral supplement of placebo, vitamin A (7000 g retinol equivalents) or carotene (42 mg, or 7000 g retinol equivalents) for over 3 1 ⁄2 years. Main outcome measures All cause mortality in women during pregnancy up to 12 weeks post partum (pregnancy related mortality) and mortality during pregnancy to 6 weeks postpartum, excluding deaths apparently related to injury (maternal mortality). Results Mortality related to pregnancy in the placebo, vitamin A, and carotene groups was 704, 426, and 361 deaths per 100 000 pregnancies, yielding relative risks (95% confidence intervals) of 0.60 (0.37 to 0.97) and 0.51 (0.30 to 0.86). This represented reductions of 40% (P < 0.04) and 49% (P < 0.01) among those who received vitamin A and carotene. Combined, vitamin A or carotene lowered mortality by 44% (0.56 (0.37 to 0.84), P < 0.005) and reduced the maternal mortality ratio from 645 to 385 deaths per 100 000 live births, or by 40% (P < 0.02). Differences in cause of death could not be reliably distinguished between supplemented and placebo groups. Conclusion Supplementation of women with either vitamin A or carotene at recommended dietary amounts during childbearing years can lower mortality related to pregnancy in rural, undernourished populations of south Asia.

Women who experience XN during pregnancy have a low vitamin A status, although several other risk factors appear to cluster among these women as well. Night blind women are also more likely to be anaemic, ill, and acutely under-nourished, and to be consuming a nutritionally poorer diet in pregnancy than non-night blind pregnant women. A simple history of XN can identify women at high risk during pregnancy who may require special nutritional support, antenatal care and counselling.

It was found that in this population with a majority of patients with severe vision loss and blind, even when offered transport and free surgery the utilisation of cataract surgery is below 60%. Medicine tends to be prescriptive based on technological advances that it is able to offer. Medical practice needs to develop a more holistic understanding of the needs of the communities cultivating a greater capability to analyse the role of cultural, social, and economic factors when planning medical services for the population.

The effect of supplementing 11,918 infants < 1 mo and 1-5 mo of age with vitamin A (15,000 and 30,000 micrograms retinol equivalents or 50,000 and 100,000 IU, respectively) or a placebo on subsequent 4-mo mortality was assessed in a randomized, double-masked community trial in the rural plains of Nepal. There were 130 deaths (51.6/1000 child-y) in the control group and 150 deaths (57.1/1000 child-y) in the vitamin A group, yielding a relative risk of 1.11 (95% CI: 0.86, 1.42), which is indicative of no overall effect on early infant mortality. There was a tendency for the relative risk of mortality among vitamin A recipients to rise with improved nutritional status. These results suggest that distribution of a large oral dose of vitamin A to infants < 5-6 mo of age may not benefit short-term survival. This is in contrast with the results of trials in which older infants and children in this same population were supplemented.

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The relationship between cataract prevalence, altitude, and sunlight hours was investigated in a large national probability sample survey of 105 sites in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, December 1980 through April 1981. Cataract of senile or unknown etiology was diagnosed by ophthalmologists in 873 of 30,565 full-time life-long residents of survey sites. Simultaneously, the altitude of sites was measured using a standard mountain altimeter. Seasonally adjusted average daily duration of sunlight exposure for each site was calculated by a method which took into account latitude and obstructions along the skyline. Age- and sex-standardized cataract prevalence was 2.7 times higher in sites at an altitude of 185 meters or less than in sites over 1000 meters. Cataract prevalence was negatively correlated with altitude (r = -0.533, p less than 0.0001). However, a positive correlation between cataract prevalence and sunlight was observed (r = 0.563, p less than 0.0001). Sites with an average of 12 hours of sunlight exposure had 3.8 times as much cataract as sites with an average of only seven hours of exposure. Sunlight was blocked from reaching certain high altitude sites by tall neighboring mountains.

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