Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May;43(3):174-182.
doi: 10.4082/kjfm.21.0029. Epub 2022 May 20.

Maternal Vitamin D Supplementation for the Prevention of Respiratory Tract Infections in Offspring: A Meta-Analysis

Zaharah Sulaiman  1 , Norhayati Mohd Noor  2 , Shaiful Bahari Ismail  2 , Anis Syahirah Far'ain Mohd Lukman  1 , Muhammad Irfan  1   3 , Nik Hazlina Nik Hussain  1
Affiliations

Maternal Vitamin D Supplementation for the Prevention of Respiratory Tract Infections in Offspring: A Meta-Analysis

Zaharah Sulaiman et al. Korean J Fam Med. 2022 May.

Abstract

Background: Vitamin D may enhance immune system function and provide a protective effect against infections. Feto-maternal circulation plays an important role in supplying the developing fetus with nutrients and antibodies for its development and health during pregnancy and for its early years of life after birth. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the effectiveness of maternal vitamin D supplementation in preventing respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in children.

Methods: We searched the Central and MEDLINE databases and went through all the reference lists in the related articles. We also searched for ongoing trials at http://www.who.int/ictrp/en/ and www.clinicaltrials.gov. Randomized controlled trials comparing vitamin D supplementation with a placebo or no treatment in pregnant women published in the English language up to March 2019 were included. Two reviewers extracted data independently using a predefined protocol and assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, with differences agreed upon by consensus. The predefined primary outcome was the number of offspring who had RTIs. The secondary outcome was the presence of measurable serum immunoglobulin E levels.

Results: Three trials involving 3,224 participants (mother-child pairs) met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The present analysis reported that maternal supplementation with vitamin D had no effect on RTIs among children (n=1,486 offspring; risk ratio, 0.95; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-1.11; random effects; I2 statistics, 0%).

Conclusion: Maternal vitamin D supplementation had no effect on RTIs in children. Therefore, consideration of other prevention methods in this regard is recommended.

Keywords: Children; Infants; Pregnant Women; Respiratory Tract Infections; Vitamin D.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Figure. 1.
Figure. 1.
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flowchart of study selection.
Figure. 2.
Figure. 2.
Risk of bias graph: evaluation of each risk of bias item presented as percentages across all included studies.
Figure. 3.
Figure. 3.
Risk of bias summary: evaluation of each risk of bias item for each included study.
Figure. 4.
Figure. 4.
Individual and pooled effect size (risk ratio and confidence interval [CI]) of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in offspring of mothers treated with vitamin D during pregnancy compared to control according to the random-effect model. M-H, Mantel-Haenszel; df, degrees of freedom.
Figure. 5.
Figure. 5.
Individual and pooled effect size (risk ratio and confidence interval [CI]) of measurable serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in offspring of mothers treated with vitamin D during pregnancy compared to control according to the random-effect model. M-H, Mantel-Haenszel; df, degrees of freedom.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Christensen N, Sondergaard J, Fisker N, Christesen HT. Infant respiratory tract infections or wheeze and maternal vitamin D in pregnancy: a systematic review. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2017;36:384–91. - PubMed
    1. King D, Mitchell B, Williams CP, Spurling GK. Saline nasal irrigation for acute upper respiratory tract infections. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;(4):CD006821. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Martineau AR, Jolliffe DA, Hooper RL, Greenberg L, Aloia JF, Bergman P, et al. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. BMJ. 2017;356:i6583. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Harris AM, Hicks LA, Qaseem A, High Value Care Task Force of the American College of Physicians and for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Appropriate antibiotic use for acute respiratory tract infection in adults: advice for high-value care from the American College of Physicians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ann Intern Med. 2016;164:425–34. - PubMed
    1. Monto AS. Occurrence of respiratory virus: time, place and person. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2004;23(1 Suppl):S58–64. - PubMed