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. 2009 May 1;179(9):765-71.
doi: 10.1164/rccm.200808-1361OC. Epub 2009 Jan 29.

Serum vitamin D levels and markers of severity of childhood asthma in Costa Rica

John M Brehm  1 , Juan C Celedón, Manuel E Soto-Quiros, Lydiana Avila, Gary M Hunninghake, Erick Forno, Daniel Laskey, Jody S Sylvia, Bruce W Hollis, Scott T Weiss, Augusto A Litonjua
Affiliations

Serum vitamin D levels and markers of severity of childhood asthma in Costa Rica

John M Brehm et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. .

Abstract

Rationale: Maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy has been inversely associated with asthma symptoms in early childhood. However, no study has examined the relationship between measured vitamin D levels and markers of asthma severity in childhood.

Objectives: To determine the relationship between measured vitamin D levels and both markers of asthma severity and allergy in childhood.

Methods: We examined the relation between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (the major circulating form of vitamin D) and markers of allergy and asthma severity in a cross-sectional study of 616 Costa Rican children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. Linear, logistic, and negative binomial regressions were used for the univariate and multivariate analyses.

Measurements and main results: Of the 616 children with asthma, 175 (28%) had insufficient levels of vitamin D (<30 ng/ml). In multivariate linear regression models, vitamin D levels were significantly and inversely associated with total IgE and eosinophil count. In multivariate logistic regression models, a log(10) unit increase in vitamin D levels was associated with reduced odds of any hospitalization in the previous year (odds ratio [OR], 0.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.004-0.71; P = 0.03), any use of antiinflammatory medications in the previous year (OR, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.05-0.67; P = 0.01), and increased airway responsiveness (a < or =8.58-mumol provocative dose of methacholine producing a 20% fall in baseline FEV(1) [OR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.024-0.97; P = 0.05]).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that vitamin D insufficiency is relatively frequent in an equatorial population of children with asthma. In these children, lower vitamin D levels are associated with increased markers of allergy and asthma severity.

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Figures

<b>Figure 1.</b>
Figure 1.
Distribution of serum vitamin D in Costa Rican children with asthma. Of the 616 participants, 21 (3.4%) had levels less than 20 ng/ml (considered deficient), and an additional 152 (24.6%) had levels between 20 and 30 ng/ml (considered insufficient).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Vitamin D and asthma: time for intervention?
    Devereux G, Macdonald H, Hawrylowicz C. Devereux G, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009 May 1;179(9):739-40. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200901-0145ED. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009. PMID: 19383926 No abstract available.

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