Evaluation of the Relationship between Serum Vitamin D Levels and Acute Febrile Respiratory Infections in Children

Abstract

Background: About 4.5 million children die annually due to acute respiratory diseases. Because of the importance of mortality in children, detecting the preventing factors of respiratory infections is very important. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and acute febrile respiratory infections in children. Methods: In this case-control study, 50 children younger than 5 years old were investigated in 2019. Twenty-five children were selected from the healthy children as the case group and 25 from the patients as the control group. Data was entered into the checklist and analyzed by SPSS version 16. Results: In this study, there was a significant difference between the serum levels of vitamin D in the case and control groups (P = 0.053). In the case group, the difference between vitamin D and sex (P = 0.25), place of living (P = 0.48), and attending to a care center (P = 0.62) were not significant, and vitamin D levels in the formula group (P = 0.005) and the group with multiple hospitalizations (P = 0.004) was significantly higher. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the serum levels of vitamin D in children with acute febrile respiratory infections hospitalized in the hospital were higher than in healthy outpatient children, and this difference was significant.