Serum vitamin A and â-carotene concentrations and renal scarring in urinary tract infections

Objective—To evaluate the role of vitamin A on renal scarring in recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs). Design—Twenty three children with UTIs and renal scarring (mean (SD) age 7.3 (3.9) years) and 91 children without renal scarring (6.4 (3.4) years) were studied. All the children had serum vitamin A and â-carotene measurements and nutritional evaluation. Renal scarring was assessed by technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid (Tc DMSA) scanning. Nutritional status of all the patients was within normal limits and not diVerent between the groups. Results—Mean (SD) serum vitamin A and â-carotene concentrations were not significantly diVerent between the patients with and without renal scarring (vitamin A 53.2 (22.6)/46.8 (17.0) μg/dl and â-carotene 232.3 (201.3)/272.4 (86.0) μg/dl respectively). However, when the patients with renal scarring and with greater than 10% diVerence among the DMSA uptakes of their kidneys (11 cases) were evaluated, a significant negative correlation was determined between the serum vitamin A concentrations and the magnitude of the diVerence in uptakes of each kidney. The same relation was not true for serum â-carotene concentrations. Conclusion—This study demonstrated a relation between serum vitamin A concentrations and magnitude of hypoactivity in Tc DMSA scanning in kidneys with advanced scarring. (Arch Dis Child 1998;78:271–272)