Plasma and liver concentrations of vitamin A in a normal population of urban Thai

Abstract

Vitamin A concentrations in the plasma and liver of 84 accident victims in Bangkok were determined. The group, all of whom were in apparent good health prior to the accidents, consisted of 68 males and 16 females, varied in age from 2 to 66 yr, and represented a spectrum of occupations. Median and mean plasma values were 36.6 μg/100 ml and 36.2±16.1 μg/100 ml, with a range from 6.8 to 82 μg/100 ml. The median, mean, and range of liver values were 89 μg/g wet tissue, 183 μg/g, and 7.5 to 3,200 μg/g, respectively. Plasma values above 10 μg/100 the and liver stores were not at all correlated in our sample. Median and mean liver values were lowest in the 11 to 20 yr group, next lowest in the 2 to 10 yr age group, and tended generally to increase with age. Median and mean plasma and liver values were also influenced by socioeconomic status, being highest in government officials and merchants and lowest in farmers and unskilled laborers. Woman tended to have slightly higher plasma levels and slighty lower liver reserves than men. Median liver reserves in victims of violent confrontations (gunshot or knife wounds) tended to be higher than in persons dying in auto accidents or by electrocution, which, in turn, were higher than in victims of self inflicted or solitary accidents. Only one of 79 persons older than 10 yr of age had liver reserves less than 10 μg/g and none of the 5 children less than 10 yr of age had liver values less than 20 μg/g.