We report sensitivities of 88%, 100%, and 80% and specificities of 97%, 100%, and 97% for iron deficiency (ferritin <15 ng/mL or 32 pmol/L), vitamin A deficiency (retinol-binding protein <14.7 μg/mL or 0.70 μmol/L) and inflammation status (C-reactive protein >3.0 μg/mL or 120 nmol/L), respectively.
We compared five approaches to adjust RBP for inflammation and estimate VAD prevalence (defined as RBP < 0.7 µmol/L): (1) ignoring inflammation; (2) excluding individuals with inflammation (C-reactive protein (CRP) >5 mg/L or alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) >1 g/)L; (3) multiplying each individual's RBP by an internal correction factor; (4) by an external correction factor; and (5) using regression (corrected RBP = exp(InRBP - β<sub>1</sub> (lnCRP<sub>obs</sub> -lnCRP<sub>ref</sub> ) - β<sub>2</sub> (lnAGP<sub>obs</sub> -lnAGP<sub>ref</sub> )).
There was no added effect of adjusting for malaria on the estimated VAD after adjusting for CRP and AGP.<b>Conclusions:</b> The use of regression correction (derived from internal data), which accounts for the severity of inflammation, to estimate the prevalence of VAD in PSC in regions with inflammation and malaria is supported by the analysis of the BRINDA data.
After excluding children with malaria parasitaemia, inflammation (CRP > 5 mg L(-1) ), iron deficiency (ferritin < 12 μg L(-1) ) or vitamin A deficiency (RBP < 0.7 μg L(-1) ), the prevalence of anaemia among those without α(+) -thalassaemia (43.0%) remained significantly lower than that among children who were either heterozygotes (53.5%) or homozygotes (67.7%, P = 0.03).