Deficiency of serum vitamin A is one of the widespread public health problem among pre-school children in developing countries. A limited number of studies have been done about this problem in Turkey and there is no similar work done in Malatya. Serum vitamin A and beta-carotene levels in 56 pre-school age children who had recurrent acute respiratory infections (ARI) or recurrent diarrhoea were determined by a UV/VIS spectrometer. The results obtained were compared with 35 healthy pre-school age children, Serum vitamin A (51.66 +/- 8.10 mu g/dL) and beta-carotene (82.88 +/- 18.5 mu g/dL) levels in children with ARI's were found significantly lower than the control group (58.14 +/- 9.07 mu g/dL and 131.43 +/- 22.38 mu g/dL, respectively) (P < 0.001).
Serum vitamin A (47.21 +/- 8.27 mu g/dL) and beta-carotene (81.63 +/- 15.41 mu g/dL) levels in children with recurrent diarrhoea were also found significantly lower than the control group (58.14 +/- 9.07 mu g/dL and 131.43 +/- 22.38 mu g/dL, respectively) (P < 0.001).