The effect of serum Vitamin D level on asthma severity in children admitted to Al Diwaniyah maternity and children teaching Hospital

Abstract

Backdrop: recent reseaches reported that vitamin D inadequacy and paucity are widespread throughout the world and related to large number of illnesses encompassing asthma.
Objective of study: to assess vitamin D inadequacy and paucity in children with asthma in Al Diwaniyah maternity and children teaching Hospital and their relations to the disease severity .
Methods: This case-control study was carried out on 173 child, 87 had asthma and 86 normal children as control group, aged 2 to 5 years in Al Diwaniyah maternity and children teaching Hospital, Iraq, during the period from the17th of September to3rd of November 2014. Patients with asthma were subdivided into 4 categories according to severity: intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent, severe persistent. The level of vitamin D was measured and equated between the study groups.
Results: The discrepancy of vitamin D values in the asthma group (mean +/- SD) 37.5+7.43 ng/mL) and the well group (mean +/- SD) 173.88+17.79 ng/mL) was encountered to be highly important (P<0.001). Mean serum vitamin D showed marked decrease as the disease severity increase. An important disparity was conformed between the study groups concerning the commonness of pulmonary infections causing visits to the emergency rooms admissions and number of hospital admissions (p <0.001).
Conclusion: these results showed that serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels were inversely related to asthma severity.