Poster Sessions

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether increasing the daily intake of vitamin D will improve serum vitamin D levels and serve as primary prevention for respiratory morbidity in late premature infants.Methods: A randomized double-blinded clinical trial, including preterm infants born at 32 + 6 to 36 + 6 weeks' gestation, between May 2015 and January 2017. The control group received 400 IU of cholecalciferol daily compared to 800 IU daily in the intervention group. We measured the levels of 25 (OH) vitamin D at birth (cord blood), 6 months and 12 months, and followed the respiratory morbidity in both groups.Results: Fifty subjects were recruited during the study period: 25 subjects in each group. The median 25 (OH) vitamin D levels in the control group vs. the intervention group were: 26.5 vs. 34 nmol/L (p-value 0.271) at birth, 99 vs. 75.5 nmol/L (p-value 0.008) at 6 months and 72.5 vs. 75 nmol/L (p-value 0.95) at 12 months of age. Regarding respiratory morbidity, the intervention group, which had significantly lower vitamin D levels, had 3.5 vs. 1.9 (p-value 0.073) respiratory diseases during the follow-up year. Both groups had similar rates of Emergency department visits for respiratory symptoms and number of relievers consumed.Conclusion: Doubling the daily intake of vitamin D in the first year of life does not increase its serum levels when compared to the control group. We found a reversed association between serum vitamin D levels and the number of respiratory diseases in premature infants during the first year of life.Background: Primary immunodeficiency (PID) accompanied with recurrent respiratory infection is thought to have a devastating effect on pulmonary function. The major aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between chest computed tomography (CT) scan morphology of bronchiectasis, clinical severity of dyspnea, and deterioration of pulmonary function parameters.Methods: Children diagnosed with PID in a tertiary pediatric referred center in northern Taiwan were enrolled and retrospectively reviewed.Demographic and clinical data including age, sex, age at diagnosis of PID, follow-up period, chest CT images (modified Reiff scores), pulmonary function test (PFT) parameters, quality of life questionnaires (mMRC dyspnea scale) were collected and analyzed. Spearman's correlation was used for correlation between continuous variables. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software (version 20.0; NY, USA).Results: A total of 19 children with PID were enrolled. Among the latter, 13 patients were diagnosed as having bronchiectasis based on chest CT scans. Modified Reiff scores of chest CT scans were negatively correlated with FEV1 (% predicted) (Spearman r = -0.74, P = 0.009, n = 11) and FEV1/FVC ratio (Spearman r = -0.71, P = 0.014, n = 11). A significant negative correlation was found between the mMRC dyspnea scale and FEV1 (% predicted) (Spearman r = -0.69, P = 0.041, n = 9) and FVC (% predicted) (Spearman r = -0.78, P = 0.014, n = 9). In contrast, the mMRC dyspnea scale was positively co...