Formulary
Vitamin A: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Vitamin A clinical drug profile including indications, dosing, side effects, cautions and interactions.
MedNext Academy | 3 min read
Vitamin A: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Vitamin A clinical drug profile including indications, dosing, side effects, cautions and interactions.
Indications and dose
**Vitamin A deficiency**
- **Child** (By Mouth): 1-17 years 10 000 units daily, to be taken with or after food, higher doses may be used initially for treatment of severe deficiency.
**Vitamin A deficiency for vitamin A**
- **Neonate** (By mouth): 5000 units daily, higher doses may be used initially for treatment of severe deficiency.
- **Child 1-11 months** (By mouth): 5000 units daily, to be taken with or after food, higher doses may be used initially for treatment of severe deficiency.
- **Child 1-17 years** (By mouth): 10 000 units daily, to be taken with or after food, higher doses may be used initially for treatment of severe deficiency.
**Prevention of deficiency in complete biliary obstruction for vitamin A**
- **Neonate** (By intramuscular injection): 50 000 units once a month.
- **Child 1-11 months** (By intramuscular injection): 50 000 units once a month.
Side effects
Overdose Massive overdose can cause rough skin, dry hair, an enlarged liver, and increases in erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum calcium and serum alkaline phosphatase concentration.
Interactions
**Other interactions (1):**
- Folic acid can reduce the plasma concentration of phenytoin.
Pregnancy
Excessive doses may be teratogenic. In view of evidence suggesting that high levels of vitamin A may cause birth defects, women who are (or may become) pregnant are advised not to take vitamin A supplements (including tablets and fish liver oil drops), except on the advice of a doctor or an antenatal clinic; nor should they eat liver or products such as liver pat or liver sausage.
Breast feeding
Theoretical risk of toxicity in infants of mothers taking large doses.
Medicinal forms
Solution
Clinical governance
**Author:** MedNext Clinical Team. **Clinical reviewer:** Dr Shameer Deen, MBBS, MS, MRCS. **Sources:** BNF, Indian Pharmacopoeia, CIMS India. **Correction:** Report errors at support@mednext.academy.
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