Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Vitamin D deficiency – a common condition in infants without supplementation – leads to a variety of health impairments.

Objectives: To assess 25-OH-vitamin D (VD) status in infants with prolonged hospitalisation, without direct exposure to sunlight.

Materials and methods: Twenty-two infants (mean age 6 years 3 months), admitted into Recuperation Department of a Children Hospital for nutritional rehabilitation, were enrolled. Infants were formula milk fed (48 UI/100 ml) and vitamin D supplemented with 1000 UI/day (D3 oil). Babies’ mothers have not been monitored and didn’t take any vitamin D supplements during pregnancies. Infants were clinically evaluated and haematological and biochemical profiles were performed. VD concentrations (automated chemiluminiscent method) were measured 40 days after admission (mean period). Statistics was performed with SPSS 17.0. The study was approved by the Local Ethical Committee.

Results: VD levels were 27.35±11.30 ng/ml (mean±S.D.). Despite supplementation with recommended doses of D3, 65.6% of infants were VD insufficient (20-30 ng/ml) and 22.9% VD deficient (<20 ng/ml), only 3 babies had targeted VD level over 30 ng/ml. Calcium levels were in the reference ranges. 85.7% of infants had anemia (haemoglobin values <13 g/dl), and 28.6% had iron under the cut-off value for iron deficiency anemia (<8 ng/ml). We cannot establish any correlation between VD levels and haematological parameters. A slightly negative correlation (r=−0.4) was found between VD and BMI. None of the babies presented clinical evidence of rickets, but rickets may occur after a period of an improper circulating VD level.

Conclusion: Monitoring the status of VD in infants with prolonged hospitalisation and supplementation with adequate doses of D3 should be of concern for paediatricians, to ensure a favourable development of those children.