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Review
. 2018 May 8;44(1):51.
doi: 10.1186/s13052-018-0488-7.

Vitamin D in pediatric age: consensus of the Italian Pediatric Society and the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics, jointly with the Italian Federation of Pediatricians

Giuseppe Saggese  1 , Francesco Vierucci  2 , Flavia Prodam  3 , Fabio Cardinale  4 , Irene Cetin  5 , Elena Chiappini  6 , Gian Luigi De' Angelis  7 , Maddalena Massari  5 , Emanuele Miraglia Del Giudice  8 , Michele Miraglia Del Giudice  8 , Diego Peroni  1 , Luigi Terracciano  9 , Rino Agostiniani  10 , Domenico Careddu  11 , Daniele Giovanni Ghiglioni  12 , Gianni Bona  13 , Giuseppe Di Mauro  14 , Giovanni Corsello  15
Affiliations
Review

Vitamin D in pediatric age: consensus of the Italian Pediatric Society and the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics, jointly with the Italian Federation of Pediatricians

Giuseppe Saggese et al. Ital J Pediatr. .

Abstract

Vitamin D plays a pivotal role in the regulation of calcium-phosphorus metabolism, particularly during pediatric age when nutritional rickets and impaired bone mass acquisition may occur.Besides its historical skeletal functions, in the last years it has been demonstrated that vitamin D directly or indirectly regulates up to 1250 genes, playing so-called extraskeletal actions. Indeed, recent data suggest a possible role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of several pathological conditions, including infectious, allergic and autoimmune diseases. Thus, vitamin D deficiency may affect not only musculoskeletal health but also a potentially wide range of acute and chronic conditions. At present, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is high in Italian children and adolescents, and national recommendations on vitamin D supplementation during pediatric age are lacking. An expert panel of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics reviewed available literature focusing on randomized controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation to provide a practical approach to vitamin D supplementation for infants, children and adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents; Children; Deficiency; Hypovitaminosis D; Supplementation; Vitamin D.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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References

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