Manifestaciones oculares de la hipovitaminosis A

Abstract

The ocular manifestations of hypovitaminosis A -known as Nutriophthalmopathy A (NOA)- involve the anterior segment of the eye, mainly the conjunctiva and the cornea. The eyes are more vulnerable in pre-school age, 2-4 years, but are rarely affected in the first year and above the fourth year

In the course of the survey carried out by WHO in 1962-1963 (in 37 countries of Asia, Africa and America) 2,532 children were examined in Latin America; of these children 14.7 per cent were malnourished and 1.5 per cent had NOA in varying degrees, mostly as ulcers, or keratomalacia but this percentage rose to 14 per cent among the malnourished only. The lesions were noted more frequently during the rainy season, when there is always an increase in gastrointestinal infections in children and that may have to do with the seasonal variations observed in NOA

The author classifies the eye lesions observed in seven stages, according to their severity: night blindness, Bitot's spots, conjunctivocorneal xeroxis, interstitial corneal infiltration, corneal ulceration, keratomalacia, sequelae

The clinical picture observed in NOA lends itself to a prognosis not only in regard to the eye but also to a life expenctancy. The first six stages represent the active stage of the disease and stage VII is a stationary one and the final outcome. The first four of these stages are reversible, the changes being amenable to ...(AU)