Maternal
night blindness is common during pregnancy in many developing countries. Previous studies have demonstrated important consequences of maternal
night blindness during pregnancy on the health of the mother and newborn infant. We compared
birthweight, 6-mo infant mortality, morbidity, and growth among infants of women who did and did not report a history of
night blindness from a community-based, randomized trial of newborn
vitamin A supplementation in south India.
Birthweight was measured within 72 h of delivery. Infants were followed until 6 mo of age for mortality and morbidity was assessed at household visits every 2 wk. Anthropometry was assessed at 6 mo of age. A total of 12,829 live-born infants were included, 680 of whom were infants of mothers with
night blindness during the index pregnancy. Maternal
night blindness was associated with an increased risk of low
birthweight in a dose-dependent fashion based on
birthweight cut-offs: <2500 g, adjusted relative risk (RR) = 1.13 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.26); <2000 g, adjusted RR = 1.70 (95% CI = 1.27, 2.26); <1500 g, adjusted RR = 3.38 (95% CI = 1.18, 6.33); with an increased risk of
diarrhea (adjusted RR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.30),
dysentery (adjusted RR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.53), acute respiratory illness (adjusted RR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.21, 1.44), and poor growth at 6 mo; underweight (adjusted RR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.26),
stunting (adjusted RR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.05, 1.34). Maternal
night blindness was not associated with 6-mo infant mortality or wasting at 6 mo. This study demonstrates that there are important consequences to the infant of maternal
vitamin A deficiency during pregnancy.