Effect of vitamin A supplementation on cause-specific mortality in women of reproductive age in Ghana: a secondary analysis from the ObaapaVitA trial
Lisa Hurt, Augustinus ten Asbroek, Seeba Amenga-Etego, Charles Zandoh, Samuel Danso, Karen Edmond, Chris Hurt, Charlotte Tawiah, Zelee Hill, Justin Fenty, Seth Owusu-Agyei, Oona M Campbell & Betty R Kirkwood
Volume 91, Number 1, January 2013, 19-27
Table 1. Vitamin A supplementation and cause-specific mortality among women, Ghana, 2000–2008
| Cause | No. of deaths |
RR (95% CI)a | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Placebo | Vitamin A | ||
| All deaths | 1298 | 1326 | 1.01 (0.93–1.09) |
| Pregnancy-relatedb | 148 | 138 | 0.92 (0.73–1.16) |
| Non-pregnancy-related | 1150 | 1188 | 1.02 (0.93–1.11) |
| Deaths caused by: | |||
| All infections | 512 | 540 | 1.04 (0.92–1.18) |
| Neoplasms | 52 | 45 | 0.86 (0.57–1.28) |
| Disorders of blood and blood-forming organs | 44 | 61 | 1.37 (0.93–2.02) |
| Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases | 15 | 15 | 0.99 (0.49–2.00) |
| Neuropsychiatric conditions | 7 | 11 | 1.55 (0.60–4.01) |
| Circulatory diseases | 81 | 75 | 0.92 (0.66–1.26) |
| Respiratory diseases | 6 | 6 | 0.99 (0.32–3.05) |
| Digestive diseases | 28 | 29 | 1.03 (0.60–1.76) |
| Genitourinary diseases | 23 | 21 | 0.90 (0.50–1.63) |
| Other known cause | 2 | 5 | 2.48 (0.48–12.80) |
| Signs and symptoms not classified elsewherec | 39 | 35 | 0.89 (0.56–1.40) |
| Injuries | 55 | 43 | 0.77 (0.51–1.17) |
| Uncertain or unknown cause | 286 | 302 | 1.04 (0.88–1.23) |
CI, confidence interval; RR, rate ratio.
a Calculated, as the mortality rate in the vitamin A arm divided by that in the placebo arm, after adjusting for clustering by use of random-effects models. The data come from an intention-to-treat analysis.
b All deaths during pregnancy, labour or delivery or within 42 days of pregnancy, regardless of cause
c Includes deaths associated with an acute abdomen, instantaneous deaths, deaths within 24 hours of symptom onset and unattended deaths.