Discussion

The NNMB for the first time carried out the
study in all the states of South India covering large state
representative sample and this communication, for the
first time reporting the prevalence of clinical and sub-
clinical VAD among the rural pre-school children of
South India.The proportion rural pre-school children

with clinical and sub-clinical VAD were higher in North
India as compared to their counterparts in South India,
where the corresponding figures of Bitot's spot and sub-
clinical VAD were 0.9% and 64%, respectively."* The
prevalence of Bitot's spots was lower in the present
study as compared to the figures reported for rural pre-
school children of Bihar (4.7%),"?,Maharashtra, (C)
Madhya Pradesh (1.4%),"* eight NNMB states of India
(0.8%) and central India (2.2%)."" Similarly, a higher
prevalence of Bitot's spot was reported among the pre-
school children of chronic drought affected states.'*
While, the prevalence was comparable with figures
reported for the rural pre-school children of West Bengal
(0.6%)."* Similarly, a higher proportion of rural
pre-school children of North India (64%),* Madhya
Pradesh (88%)"*, West Bengal (61.2%) and eight
NNMB states of India (61.8%) had sub-clinical VAD,
while a lower prevalence of sub-clinical VAD was
reported for the rural pre-school children of
Maharashtra"? as compared to children in South India. Furthermore, the prevalence of VAD was significantly
higher (p