Preschool-age rural Indonesian children were reexamined every 3 months for 18 months.
An average of 3135 children were free of respiratory disease and or diarrhea at the
examination initiating each of the six, 3-month follow-up intervals. Children with mild
xerophthalmia (night blindness and/or Bitot's spots) at the start and end of an interval
developed respiratory disease and diarrhea at twice (p< 0.001) and three times (p< 0.001)
the rate, respectively, of children with normal eyes during the same interval, independent of …