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Richard D. Semba, MD, MPH; Saskia de Pee, PhD; Dora Panagides, MHS; Ouk Poly, MD; Martin W. Bloem, MD, PhD

Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122:517-523.

Objective  To characterize the risk of xerophthalmia among nonpregnant women and their children and the risk factors for households in which both mother and child have xerophthalmia.

Methods  In case-control analyses of more than 15 000 households in the National Micronutrient Survey of Cambodia, univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for nonpregnant mothers, children, and mother-child pairs with xerophthalmia.

Main Outcome Measures  Risk factors for xerophthalmia.

Results  Of 10 942 children aged 18 to 60 months and 9587 nonpregnant women, the adjusted prevalence of xerophthalmia was 0.7% and 1.9%, respectively. In multivariate analyses, a child was at higher risk of xerophthalmia when the mother had xerophthalmia (OR = 4.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.25-8.46), and a mother was at higher risk of xerophthalmia when a child had the disease (OR = 9.21; 95% CI, 3.56-23.82). Households were at higher risk for having both mother and child with xerophthalmia if there was a history of diarrhea in the mother (OR = 6.48; 95% CI, 1.49-28.23) or in a child younger than 60 months (OR = 10.16; 95% CI, 1.55-66.62) in the last 2 weeks.

Conclusions  Xerophthalmia clusters among mothers and children in Cambodia and is associated with diarrheal disease. Interventions are needed to address vitamin A deficiency and diarrheal disease at the household level.

From the Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md (Dr Semba); Helen Keller International, Asia Pacific Regional Office, Singapore (Drs de Pee and Bloem and Ms Panagides); Ministry of Health, Government of Cambodia, Phnom Penh (Dr Poly); and Helen Keller Worldwide, New York, NY (Dr Bloem). The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.