Vitamin D Status and Associated Factors in Neonates in a Resource Constrained Setting.

Khadija Murtaza Bhimji,Helga Naburi,Karim Manji,Said Aboud

doi:10.1155/2018/9614975

Khadija Murtaza Bhimji, Helga Naburi + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/9614975

Copy DOI

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is emerging as a serious public health problem globally; however due to lack of resources, vitamin D levels are not routinely measured among neonates. The study was conducted to determine vitamin D levels in neonates and factors associated with the same. A cross-sectional study was conducted among neonates admitted at neonatal ward of a tertiary care hospital. Means and proportions were calculated from summarized data in frequency tables. Chi square test was used to determine association between vitamin D and various associated factors such as sex, infant birth weight, gestation age, parity of the mother, maternal age, and HIV status of the mother. A total of 170 neonates were studied, out of which 80% had vitamin D deficiency. Neonates born to HIV-infected mothers were significantly less likely to have vitamin D deficiency (OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.06 – 0.77, p = 0.009). Subgroup analysis revealed the association to be stronger in terms neonates (p = 0.005). The association was not observed among preterm newborns. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in neonates was observed to be very high and needs more attention.

Highlights

Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is a worldwide problem that has been documented among neonates, ranging from 73% in New Zealand [1] to 94% of newborns in Jordan [2].Some of the risk factors associated with VDD such as HIV infection, teenage pregnancy, preterm, and low birth weight deliveries are prevalent in our setting [3, 4].VDD has multiple consequences and is increasingly recognized as a factor associated with various diseases
Neonates born with birth weight of more than 2500gm accounted for 75.3% of the study population
This association between VDD and dark-skinned individuals was reported in USA [15]. Another reason could be that the population of mothers in this study were from suburban areas where women are normally indoors and travel in buses, which reduces their exposure to sunlight. These findings suggest that there may be a role for maternal supplementation of vitamin D during pregnancy in order to reduce the burden of VDD in the neonate [16,17,18,19]

Summary

Introduction

Some of the risk factors associated with VDD such as HIV infection, teenage pregnancy, preterm, and low birth weight deliveries are prevalent in our setting [3, 4]. VDD has multiple consequences and is increasingly recognized as a factor associated with various diseases. In children, it leads to growth retardation and rickets. Nonskeletal consequences of VDD include an increased risk of certain cancers, hypertension, type 1 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, and more severe forms of tuberculosis [5]. In Africa, VDD and related consequences are not uncommon; for instance, in Kenya, incidence of rickets of prematurity by six months of age was found to be 58.8% and was more common in male infants compared to female infants [6]

Methods

Results

Conclusion