Vitamin D Status in Infants with Two Different Wheezing Phenotypes

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Nutritional Science
• Respiratory Medicine

Background:

• Recurrent wheeze is a common respiratory issue in early childhood.
• Vitamin D plays a crucial role in immune system regulation.
• Understanding factors contributing to recurrent wheeze is vital for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate serum vitamin D levels in infants diagnosed with recurrent wheeze.
• To compare vitamin D status between infants with different recurrent wheeze phenotypes (API positive vs. negative) and healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 186 infants with recurrent wheezing and 118 healthy controls.
• Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels were measured as an indicator of vitamin D adequacy.
• Infants with recurrent wheeze were categorized based on Asthma Predictive Index (API) positivity.

Main Results:

• Infants with recurrent wheeze exhibited significantly lower mean serum 25(OH)D levels compared to healthy controls (p < 0.05).
• The API-negative group had the lowest mean vitamin D level (22.71 ± 10.76 ng/ml), followed by the API-positive group (24.08 ± 9.02 ng/ml).
• Vitamin D deficiency was more prevalent in both API-negative (52.1%) and API-positive (38.5%) infants compared to controls (31.4%).

Conclusions:

• Low serum 25(OH)D levels are detected in infants presenting with recurrent wheezing, irrespective of API status.
• Vitamin D deficiency may be implicated in the pathogenesis of recurrent wheezing in infants.
• Further research is warranted to explore the therapeutic potential of vitamin D supplementation.