Bone mineral density at age 7 years does not associate with adherence to vitamin D supplementation guidelines in infancy or vitamin D status in pregnancy and childhood: an Odense Child Cohort study

Abstract

Vitamin D supplementation in infancy is recommended to prevent rickets. At the population level, its effects on bone mineralisation are largely unknown. We aimed to explore whether adherence to national vitamin D supplementation guidelines (10 µg/day up to age 2 years), supplementation at ages 5 and 7 years, and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (s-25(OH)D) at various time points associated with bone mineral density (BMD) at age 7 years in the Odense Child Cohort, Denmark (n=1,194). High adherence was defined as supplementation with 10 µg vitamin D 6-7 times per week during ≥ 80 % of the observation time. S-25(OH)D was analysed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Total-body-less-head (TBLH) BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. At median age 18.1 months, 53.9 % (n=475/881) reported high adherence. The median s-25(OH)D was 64.7, 78.8, 46.0, and 71.8 nmol/l in early pregnancy, late pregnancy, cord blood, and at 5 years, respectively. The mean (SD) TBLH BMD at median age 7.1 years was 0.613 (0.049) g/cm2 (z-score +0.363 (0.824)). In adjusted analyses, vitamin D supplementation up to 18 months, and at 5 and 7 years, was not associated with TBLH BMD. Similarly, no robust associations were found between TBLH BMD and s-25(OH)D at any time point. No associations were found for TBLH bone mineral concentration or bone area. In this population with relatively high s-25(OH)D concentrations, no consistent associations were found between adherence to vitamin D supplementation recommendations or vitamin D status in pregnancy or childhood, and bone mineralisation at age 7 years.

Vitamin D status in pregnancy and childhood associates with intelligence quotient at age 7 years: An Odense child cohort study

“…309032 (BD, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, USA). Blood samples were kept at –80°C until analysis by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) as described earlier (Andersen et al, 2013; Nørgaard et al, 2021). The concentration relied on the determination of both s-25(OH)D 2 and s-25(OH)D 3 , and levels of s-25(OH)D were calculated as the sum of the two.…”

Early Life Programming of Skeletal Health

“…Observational studies assessing the associations between maternal 25(OH)D status and offspring BMD have reported inconsistent findings, but variation in gestation at 25(OH)D assessment, age at follow-up, cohort demographics and geographical location of the study limit comparison between studies (Table 1 ) [ 71 – 89 ].…”

“…Considering this and the importance of 25(OH)D in maternal calcium absorption, the effect of maternal vitamin D supplementation on offspring BMD has received scientific interest. Observational studies assessing the associations between maternal 25(OH)D status and offspring BMD have reported inconsistent findings, but variation in gestation at 25(OH)D assessment, age at follow-up, cohort demographics and geographical location of the study limit comparison between studies (Table 1) [71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89].…”