Vitamin D Deficiency and Indicators of Increased Adiposity in School-age Children: A Prospective Study

Abstract

PP-31-203 Background/Aims: Cross-sectional studies indicate that vitamin D serostatus is inversely associated with adiposity. It is unknown whether vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for the development of adiposity in children. We investigated the associations between vitamin D serostatus and changes in body mass index, skinfold ratio (subscapular/triceps), waist circumference, and height in a longitudinal study of children from Bogotá, Colombia. Methods: We quantified plasma 25 (OH) vitamin D (25 (OH)D) in baseline samples of a randomly selected group of 479 children aged 5–12 years and classified vitamin D status as deficient (25 (OH)D <50 nmol/L), insufficient (25 (OH)D ≥50 and <75 nmol/L), or sufficient (25 (OH)D ≥75 nmol/L). We measured anthropometry annually for a median 30 months. We estimated average change in each anthropometric indicator according to baseline vitamin D status using multivariate mixed linear regression models. Results: Vitamin D-deficient children had an adjusted 0.1 kg/m2/yr greater change in body mass index compared with vitamin D-sufficient children (P for trend = 0.05). Similarly, vitamin D-deficient children had a 0.03/yr (95% CI: 0.01, 0.05) greater change in subscapular-to-triceps skinfold ratio and a 0.9 cm/yr (95% CI: 0.1, 1.6) greater change in waist circumference compared with vitamin D-sufficient children. Finally, vitamin D serostatus was positively associated with attained height in girls; vitamin D-deficient girls grew an estimated 0.6 cm/yr less than their vitamin D-sufficient counterparts (P = 0.04). Conclusion: Vitamin D serostatus was inversely associated with the development of adiposity in school-age children and positively associated with linear growth in girls.