Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays an important role in immune function, vision, and growth. We analyzed serum-free retinol deficiency in pediatric patients with intestinal failure (IF) or short bowel syndrome (SBS) to determine which clinical factors contribute to vitamin A deficiency in this population. A single-center, retrospective review of 32 children with IF or SBS was conducted examining 6 categorical classifications of patients to test for increased risk of vitamin A deficiency, building a univariate logistic regression model for each category. Few serum assessments were consistent with deficiency (11 out of 347 tests obtained over 153 patient-years). Among these 11 low levels occurring in three patients, 6 were borderline or nearly normal for age and without associated symptoms, and 4 were obtained from one patient with significant ileal inflammation in the context of a STAT1 mutation. One level was obtained in one patient without a corresponding C-reactive protein level, and this patient had 23 subsequently normal serum-free retinol levels. In this small sample size, no patients were symptomatic. In patients who had at least 1 vitamin A test during the prior year without any deficient measurements, there was a 1.3% chance of obtaining a deficient vitamin A level upon subsequent measurement. A low risk of vitamin A deficiency was seen over the course of 153 patient-years, suggesting that frequent, repeated vitamin A assessment may not be needed in patients with normal vitamin A status early in their post-operative IF course.

维生素A是一种脂溶性维生素，在免疫功能、视力和生长方面发挥着重要作用。我们分析了患有肠衰竭 (IF) 或短肠综合征 (SBS) 的儿科患者的无血清视黄醇缺乏症，以确定哪些临床因素导致该人群维生素 A 缺乏。对 32 名 IF 或 SBS 儿童进行单中心回顾性审查，检查患者的 6 个类别，以测试维生素 A 缺乏风险的增加，并为每个类别建立单变量逻辑回归模型。很少有血清评估与缺陷一致（在 153 个患者年的 347 项测试中，有 11 项）。在三名患者中出现的这 11 种低水平中，6 种处于年龄边缘或几乎正常且没有相关症状，4 种来自一名在 STAT1 突变背景下患有显着回肠炎症的患者。一名患者获得了一种水平，但没有相应的 C 反应蛋白水平，该患者随后有 23 个正常的无血清视黄醇水平。在如此小的样本量中，没有患者出现症状。在前一年至少进行过 1 次维生素 A 测试而没有任何缺陷测量的患者中，在随后的测量中获得维生素 A 水平缺陷的可能性为 1.3%。在 153 个患者年的过程中发现维生素 A 缺乏的风险较低，这表明在术后 IF 过程早期维生素 A 状态正常的患者可能不需要频繁、重复的维生素 A 评估。