Prenatal Vitamin D Levels in Maternal Sera and Offspring Specific Learning Disorders.

Bianca Arrhenius,Alan S Brown,Keely Cheslack-Postava,Subina Upadhyaya,Andre Sourander,Hanna Öhman,Susanna Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki

doi:10.3390/nu13103321

Abstract

Recent evidence has suggested potential harmful effects of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy on offspring brain development, for example, elevated risks for neuropsychiatric disorders. Findings on general cognition and academic achievement are mixed, and no studies have examined the effect of prenatal 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels on diagnosed specific learning disorders, which was the aim of this study. We examined a nested case–control sample from the source cohort of all singleton-born children in Finland between 1996 and 1997 (n = 115,730). A total of 1607 cases with specific learning disorders (mean age at diagnosis: 9.9 years) and 1607 matched controls were identified from Finnish nationwide registers. Maternal 25(OH)D levels were analyzed from serum samples collected during the first trimester of pregnancy and stored in a national biobank. Conditional logistic regression was used to test the association between maternal 25(OH)D and offspring specific learning disorders. There were no significant associations between maternal 25(OH)D levels and specific learning disorders when vitamin D was examined as a log-transformed continuous variable (adjusted OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.82–1.18, p = 0.84) or as a categorical variable (25(OH)D < 30 nmol/L: adjusted OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.83–1.28, p = 0.77 compared to levels of >50 nmol/L), nor when it was divided into quintiles (adjusted OR for the lowest quintile 1.00, 95% CI 0.78–1.28, p = 0.99 compared to the highest quintile). This study found no association between low maternal 25(OH)D in early pregnancy and offspring specific learning disorders.

Highlights

Maternal vitamin D is essential for fetal growth and development, and prenatal exposure to vitamin D deficiency during a critical period of brain development may result in persistent functional alterations in the brain
This is the first study to examine the association between maternal vitamin D levels in prenatal sera and diagnosed specific learning disorders in offspring
We found no significant association between maternal vitamin D and offspring specific learning disorders, but the number of cases was slightly higher compared with the number of controls in the lowest quintile

Summary

Introduction

Maternal vitamin D is essential for fetal growth and development, and prenatal exposure to vitamin D deficiency during a critical period of brain development may result in persistent functional alterations in the brain. Experimental animal studies have shown that vitamin. D deficiency during gestation is associated with morphological changes in the brain [3,4]. Maternal vitamin D deficiency has been associated with unfavorable pregnancy outcomes, including gestational diabetes [5], impaired offspring bone development [6], prematurity [7], and subsequent risk of delayed cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric disorders [3]. A recent nationwide nested case–control study found that lower levels of prenatal vitamin D were associated with offspring autism spectrum disorders [8]. Studies have shown significant associations between low prenatal vitamin D levels and offspring schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [9,10]

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Conclusion