Vitamin D Level in Children with Acute and Relapsing Demyelinating Disorders of the Nervous System

Abstract

Background Vitamin D has recently gained increased attention owing to its immunomodulatory role. Epidemiological evidence demonstrates that deficiency of Vitamin D is a relevant risk for acute acquired immune-mediated inflammatory demyelinating diseases in childhood, such as Multiple sclerosis (MS). Exact mechanism remains widely unexplored. Aim to measure the serum level vitamin D-25(OH) in pediatric patients diagnosed with acquired central and peripheral demyelinating diseases, and to compare these to levels found in healthy age and gender matched controls. Patients and Methods Twenty children (patients’ group) diagnosed with acute demyelinating diseases (Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM, n = 7), Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy of Childhood (ANEC, n = 3), Autoimmune Encephalitis (AE, n = 3), Transverse Myelitis (TM, n = 3), Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS, n = 4)) and 40 healthy age and gender matched children (control group), were enrolled in the study. All patients were subject to full history, examination and measurement of serum levels of 25 (OH) vitamin D3 in both cases and control group. Results The mean level of vitamin D in cases was 4.4 ± 11.14 ng/ml, and it was deficient in 75% of the cases and insufficient in 15% of cases. The mean vitamin d level in cases was significantly lower than that in controls (27.18 ± 7.8 ng/ml). Conclusion Serum levels of 25 (OH) Vitamin D3 in pediatric acute acquired demyelinating diseases of the nervous system are significantly lower than levels in healthy controls, raising a possibility that vitamin D deficiency may be a risk factor for the development of various autoimmune neurological diseases.