Vitamin A status, inflammation adjustment, and immunologic response in the context of acute febrile illness: A pilot cohort study among pediatric patients.

Background: Vitamin A is necessary for an adequate immune response to infections. Infection also alters vitamin A biomarkers, which interferes with assessment of vitamin A deficiency and thus impairs clinical management. Here we apply multiple strategies to adjust vitamin A biomarkers for inflammation during acute infection and evaluate associations between adjusted vitamin A status and immunologic response markers.