Background: Concerns over vitamin D deficiency in infants and children recently prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend increased supplementation. Few studies have examined vitamin D status in the same infants over time. Also, while many researchers label "breastfeeding" as a risk factor for vitamin D deficiency, few differentiate between any breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and supplemented or unsupplemented breastfeeders.
Objective: To determine predictors of 25(OH)D deficiency at 4 months in a group of children previously tested at birth.
Methods: We enrolled newborns from 2005 to 2007 at an urban Boston hospital. Maternal and infant blood samples were collected within 72 hours of birth. At 4 months, we obtained a second infant blood sample.
Results: At 4 months, 11.9% of the 177 infants were vitamin D deficient compared to 37.5% at birth (25(OH)D <20 ng/mL). Median 25(OH)D was 35.2 ng/mL (range, 5-100.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 32.8-37.6). At 4 months, 40% of unsupplemented infants were deficient. Lack of supplementation was significantly associated with increased risk of deficiency (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 19.3; 95% CI, 4.80-77.2). Being outside at least 10 minutes a day, once per week, was protective (AOR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.02-0.66), as was increasing gestational age (AOR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.19-0.69). In 48.4% of patients, physicians failed to prescribe vitamin D at 2 months.
Conclusions: Despite inconsistent supplementation, a smaller proportion of infants were vitamin D deficient at 4 months than at birth. While supplemented breastfed infants were not at risk of deficiency, unsupplemented exclusively breastfed infants were at high risk of severe deficiency.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0890334411434802 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Epidemiology, Epidemiology Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) onset is caused by genetic and environmental factors. Vitamin D has been identified as contributing environmental risk factor, with higher prevalence at latitudes further from the equator. Mongolia, at 45°N, has limited sunlight exposure, increasing the population's risk for vitamin D deficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMatern Child Health J
January 2025
Tanzania Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Tanzania Ministry of Health, Dodoma, Tanzania.
Introduction: Population risk for neural tube defects (NTDs) can be determined using red blood cell (RBC) folate. However, a paucity of biomarker and surveillance data among non-lactating, non-pregnant women of reproductive age (NPWRA) from Africa limits accurate assessment. Our study assessed folate and vitamin B12 status among non-lactating NPWRA and predicted population risk of NTDs in Tanzania.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncologist
January 2025
HonorHealth Research Institute, Scottsdale, AZ, United States.
Lessons Learned: Intravenous paricalcitol did not improve the efficacy of pembrolizumab, likely related to the short half-life.
Background: Immunotherapy has limited benefit in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer with the tumor microenvironment playing a key role in immune resistance. In preclinical studies, vitamin D receptor (VDR) agonists have been shown to sensitize pancreatic tumors to PD-1 blockade.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Department of Maternal Health Care, Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.
There is little research on anemia and vitamin D deficiency in HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children. This study was aimed to describe and compare the prevalence of anemia and vitamin D inadequacy in HEU children and HIV-unexposed uninfected (HUU) children, and to examine the associations of HIV exposure with anemia and vitamin D inadequacy. This was a hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study nested within the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV program in Hunan Province during July and September 2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Open
January 2025
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Uganda Martyrs University, Mother Kevin Postgraduate Medical School, Nsambya Campus, Kampala, Uganda.
Objective: There is a dearth of published data on the vitamin D status of the Ugandan population; the objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among pregnant women in Uganda and its associations with maternal characteristics and adverse foetal-maternal outcomes.
Study Design And Setting: We conducted a cross-sectional study on pregnant women admitted to a tertiary referral hospital in Kampala, Uganda for delivery during the study period from July to December 2023.
Participants: The study was conducted on 351 pregnant women aged ≥18 years who consented to participate in the study, who had a single intrauterine pregnancy and a gestational age greater than 26 weeks, and who delivered at St.
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