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. 2017 Jul;20(10):1816-1824.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980017000921. Epub 2017 Jun 5.

25-Hydroxyvitamin D supplementation and health-service utilization for upper respiratory tract infection in young children

Jessica A Omand  1 , Teresa To  2 , Deborah L O'Connor  3 , Patricia C Parkin  4 , Catherine S Birken  4 , Kevin E Thorpe  1 , Jonathon L Maguire  1
Affiliations

25-Hydroxyvitamin D supplementation and health-service utilization for upper respiratory tract infection in young children

Jessica A Omand et al. Public Health Nutr. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) are the most common and costly condition of childhood. Low vitamin D levels have been hypothesized as a risk factor for URTI. The primary objective was to determine if serum vitamin D levels were associated with health-service utilization (HSU) for URTI including hospital admission, emergency department visits and outpatient sick visits. The secondary objectives were to determine whether oral vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy or childhood was associated with HSU for URTI.

Design: Cohort study. HSU was determined by linking each child's provincial health insurance number to health administrative databases. Multivariable quasi Poisson regression was used to evaluate the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D, vitamin D supplementation and HSU for URTI.

Setting: Toronto, Canada.

Subjects: Children participating in the TARGet Kids! network between 2008 and 2013.

Results: Healthy children aged 0-5 years (n 4962) were included; 52 % were male and mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D was 84 nmol/l (range 11-355 nmol/l). There were 105 (2 %), 721 (15 %) and 3218 (65 %) children with at least one hospital admission, emergency department visit or outpatient sick visit for URTI, respectively. There were no statistically significant associations between 25-hydroxyvitamin D or vitamin D supplementation and HSU for URTI.

Conclusions: A clinically meaningful association between vitamin D (continuously and dichotomized at <50 and <75 nmol/l) and HSU for URTI was not identified. While vitamin D may have other benefits for health, reducing HSU for URTI does not appear to be one of them.

Keywords: 25-Hydroxyvitamin D; Early childhood; Health-service utilization; Upper respiratory infection; Vitamin D.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection of participants for the present study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Unadjusted relative risk (RR) of 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration (in 10 nmol/l increments) and total health-service utilization for upper respiratory tract infections in a 2-year period in the TARGet Kids! cohort, Toronto, Canada, 2008–2013. ——— represents the line of best fit for the data and the grey area represents the 95 % CI
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