A Study to Improve the Vitamin A and Iodine Status of Pregnant Women through a Multiple Micronutrient Fortified Salt

Table 4

Serum retinol^§, change in serum retinol, and serum retinol deficiencyin the three trimesters.

	Experimental group (multiple fortified salt) N = 151	Control group; N = 150	values
By trimester:			Repeated measures; ANOVA; Group x time; -value = 0.0001
First trimester	24.51 ± 10.45	28.97 ± 9.45
Second trimester	27.29 ± 11.25	27.63 ± 10.60
Third trimester	25.68 ± 13.07	22.72 ± 8.60
Changes between trimesters:			-values by t-test
Second minus first	2.78 ± 12.39	−1.34 ± 12.28	-value = 0.004
Third minus second	−1.61 ± 12.82	−4.91 ± 11.59	-value = 0.02
Third minus first (overall)	1.17 ± 14.19	−6.25 ± 11.15	-value = 0.0001
Prevalence of serum retinol deficiency			Binary logistic regression
First trimester (%)	39.1	14.0	Group x time first and second trimester p-value = 0.002
Second trimester (%)	25.8	22.7	Group x time second and third trimester -value = 0.539
Third trimester (%)	37.7	39.3	Group x time first and third trimester -value = 0.001
			Group x time (all trimesters) -value = 0.001

^§Serum retinol, µg/dL (Mean ± SD); Serum retinol deficiency is defined by serum retinol (adjusted for inflammation) < 20 µg/dL.