CONSUMPTION OF VITAMIN A RICH FOODS AND DARK ADAPTATION THRESHOLD OF PREGNANT WOMEN AT DAMOT SORE DISTRICT, WOLAYITA, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

BACKGROUND: More than 7.2 million pregnant women in developing countries suffer from vitamin Adeficiency. The objective of this study was to assess dark adaptation threshold of pregnant women andrelated socio-demographic factors in Damot Sore District, Wolayita Zone, Southern Ethiopia.METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was employed to collect data from 104 pregnant womenselected by a two stage cluster sampling. A Dietary Diversity Score was calculated by counting thenumber of food groups consumed by the women in 24 hour period prior to the study. Scotopic SensitivityTester-1 was used to test participant’s pupillary response to graded amounts of light in a dark tent.RESULTS: Half of the pregnant women in this study had dietary diversity score less than three. Themajority of participants (87.5%) had consumed either animal or plant source vitamin A rich foods lessthan three times a week. For a unit increase in individual dietary diversity score, there was a decrease indark adaptation measurement by 0.29 log cd/m 2 (p=0.001). For a unit increase in gestational week ofpregnancy, there was an increase in dark adaptation measurement by 0.19 log cd/m 2 (P=0.027).CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study indicated that the pregnant women had low consumption ofvitamin A rich foods, and their dark adaptation threshold increases with gestational age indicating thattheir vitamin A status is getting worse. There is a need to design appropriate intervention and target thisgroup of population.