Vitamin D deficiency has been declared a public health problem for both adults and children worldwide. The growing data suggests that vitamin D deficiency plays an important role in the development of childhood asthma. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential relationship between asthma exacerbation severity and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in children.
Methods
This study was conducted in Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, from September 2013 to March 2014. A total of 49 children with asthma exacerbation, aged between 3 and 14 years, were enrolled. The children should not have underling diseases such as chronic lung disease, congenital heart disease, chronic renal disease, etc. and vitamin D supplement in recent 3 months. According to GINA assessment of asthma exacerbation, they were divided into mild, moderate and severe exacerbation group. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D were assessed in all 49 children.
Results
The 49 patients were 28 boys and 21 girls, mean age 5.28±2.28 years old. According to GINA assessment of asthma exacerbation, 20 (40.82%) children were enrolled in mild exacerbation group, 15 (30.61%) children were enrolled in moderate exacerbation group and 14 (28.57%) children were enrolled in severe exacerbation group. There was no significant differences in age, height and weight among the three groups (p>0.05). The concentration of serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D in mild, moderate and severe exacerbation groups was 35.77±13.64 nmol/L, 15.30±4.97 nmol/L and 13.87±3.33 nmol/L separately. The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D of mild exacerbation group is significantly higher than moderate and severe exacerbation groups. But no significance was found between moderate and severe exacerbation groups.
Conclusions
Children with moderate and severe asthma exacerbations had lower serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D than mild cases, which suggests that 25-hydroxyvitamin D is associated with asthma exacerbation severity in children. Further research should be focused on vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of childhood asthma.