PEDIATRICS Vol. 1 No. 4 April 1948, pp. 505-511
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by CLIFFORD, S. H.
Right arrow Articles by WELLER, K. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by CLIFFORD, S. H.
Right arrow Articles by WELLER, K. F.

THE ABSORPTION OF VITAMIN A IN PREMATURELY BORN INFANTS

With Experience in the Use of Absorbable Vitamin A in the Prophylaxis of Retrolental Fibroplasia

STEWART H. CLIFFORD M.D.1 and KATHLEEN FAHEY WELLER A.B.1

1 The Boston Lying-in Hospital, the Infants' and Children's Hospitals, and the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School.

Forty-two premature infants were tested for vitamin A absorption after the oral ingestion of 0.5 cc. (35,000 U.S.P. units) of percomorph liver oil. Only three (7%) showed good absorption levels. The mean absorption level found from three to five hours after the test dose was 16 units of vitamin A.

Forty-one were tested for vitamin A absorption after the oral ingestion of either 2 cc. or 3 cc. (16,000-24,000 U.S.P. units) of vitamin A in a vehicle of either alcohol or propylene glycol. Of these 37 (90%) showed good absorption levels. The mean absorption level found from three to five hours after the test dose was 85 units of vitamin A.

Retrolental fibroplasia could not be prevented from developing in a certain number of premature infants' eyes by the daily oral administration of 5000 U.S.P. of vitamin A in an absorbable water soluble form. Even the addition of 20,000 U.S.P. units of vitamin A in oil by intramuscular injection failed to prevent the development of bilateral retrolental fibroplasia in one infant.

If vitamin D follows the same laws of absorption as does vitamin A, the provision of both A and D in a readily absorbable form should be of great practical advantage to the prematurely born infant.

Submitted on January 20, 1948




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Arch OphthalmolHome page
M. J. KING
RETROLENTAL FIBROPLASIA: A Clinical Study of Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight Cases
Arch Ophthalmol, April 1, 1950; 43(4): 694 - 711.
[Abstract] [PDF]