Maternal Night Blindness Increases Risk of Mortality in the First 6 Months of Life among Infants in Nepal

Abstract

Night blindness occurs commonly among women during pregnancy in rural Nepal. We examined the relationship between maternal night blindness and the risk of mortality occurring among infants in the first 6 mo of life. Stratified analysis by maternal night blindness status during pregnancy was done for 10,000 women participating in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of vitamin A and β-carotene supplementation. Mortality of infants of non-night blind women in all three supplementation groups was similar, and when combined, was 63/1000 live births. Relative to this, mortality was higher by 63% [95% confidence interval (CI): 9–138%) and 50% (95% CI: −3 to 133%) among infants of night blind women receiving placebo and β-carotene, respectively, but only by 14% (95% CI: −33 to 93%) among those receiving vitamin A. Thus, 6-mo mortality was higher among infants of women who had night blindness during pregnancy. Maternal receipt of vitamin A reduced this risk.