Efficacy of vitamin D in children with pneumonia: a randomized control trial study

Abstract

Background and Objectives:Pneumonia is the inflammation of parenchyma of lungs. It strictly represents any inflammatory condition that involves the lungs along with the visceral pleura, airways, alveoli, connective tissues and vascular structures. The objective of the study was to see the efficacy of vitamin D in children with pneumonia. Material and Methods:A randomized control study was conducted in Department of Pediatric Medicine, Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. One hundred patients with pneumonia received vitamin D along with appropriate antibiotics and one hundred were treated with antibiotics but without vitamin D. The patients were discharged after the fast breathing and chest in drawing settled. The duration of hospital stay was noted. They were followed up for next 90 days after discharge from hospital and any new episode of pneumonia was noted and recorded. Results:The mean number of days to recovery were similar between the group receiving vitamin D (5.7 ± 2.7 days) and the group not receiving vitamin D (6.1 ± 2.8days), (p=0.28). While comparing repeat episode of pneumonia within next three months, the repeat episode of pneumonia was significantly lower in the intervention group (2%) than the group without supplementation (9%; p = 0.002) within 30 days of supplementation of vitamin D. Conclusion:Vitamin D supplementation in a single dose to the children diagnosed as pneumonia significantly reduces the occurrence of new episodes of pneumonia within one month of discharge.

Vitamin D supplementation among Bangladeshi children under-five years of age hospitalised for severe pneumonia: A randomised placebo controlled trial

“…A possible explanation could be, only a subgroup of study children might have been benefitted from vitamin D supplementation, whereas the effect of vitamin D supplementation was obscured in children having severe vitamin D deficiency [ 41 ]. This is in contrast to the studies in Kabul and Pakistan in which vitamin D supplementation resulted in a reduction of pneumonia incidence within one and three months subsequent to hospital discharge [ 30 , 38 ]. The difference in this regard between these studies and our might be explained by differences in the study populations.…”

“…Only two studies [ 26 , 38 ] including ours have included information on malnutrition, which was present in approximately 60% in both the groups in our study. Moreover, approximately 50% children in both the groups in our study were vitamin D deficient.…”

The Role of Micronutrients in Support of the Immune Response against Viral Infections

“…These observational findings have laid the foundation for clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation for treatment or prevention of childhood respiratory tract infections, as shown in Table 6 a,b [ 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 , 167 , 168 , 169 , 170 ].…”

Efficacy of High‐Dose Vitamin D Supplementation as an Adjuvant Treatment on Pneumonia: Systematic Review and a Meta‐Analysis of Randomized Controlled Studies

“…Of these, 2 studies 33,35 reported the code key would be opened only after administration of the intervention, duration of follow-up, data collection, and tabulation were completed, thus preventing detection bias; these studies were assessed as being at low risk of bias for this domain. Five studies 34,38,39,41,42 did not describe methods to prevent detection bias and were assessed as being at unclear risk of bias. However, Somnath et al 43 were unblinded, presenting a high risk of performance bias.…”

“…For the present meta-analysis, our search identified a total of 282 studies that were assessed for eligibility; of these, 13 studies 28,29,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] with a total of 4786 randomized participants fulfilled the eligibility criteria (Figure 1). Although Full-text articles excluded, with reasons (n = 19):…”