Impact of supplementing newborn infants with vitamin A on early infant mortality: community based randomised trial in southern India.

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of supplementing newborn infants with vitamin A on mortality at age 6 months. DESIGN Community based, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial. SETTING Two rural districts of Tamil Nadu, southern India. PARTICIPANTS 11 619 newborn infants allocated 24 000 IU oral vitamin A or placebo on days 1 and 2 after delivery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Primary outcome measure was mortality at age 6 months. RESULTS Infants in the vitamin A group had a 22% reduction in total mortality (95% confidence interval 4% to 37%) compared with those in the placebo group. Vitamin A had an impact on mortality between two weeks and three months after treatment, with no additional impact after three months. CONCLUSION Supplementing newborn infants with vitamin A can significantly reduce early infant mortality.