Vitamin D Deficiency in a Tropical Country — Treatment and Prevention in Children

Abstract

Vitamin D has an important role to play in skeletal and extraskeletal health. Inspite of being a sun rich country, India has widespread vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to serious consequences like hypocalcemic seizures and increased risk of respiratory tract infections in neonates and infants. International expert groups advocate universal supplementation for non-formula fed infants, pregnant and lactating women and those at risk of deficiency. A body of literature on vitamin D status in India is being generated, which may guide clinical practice in our country. Treatment of deficiency must be undertaken with minimally effective doses to avoid the risk of toxicity. Sensible sunshine exposure should be encouraged to facilitate vitamin D production from natural sources.

Vitamin D deficiency in Malaysian adolescents aged 13 years: findings from the Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team study (MyHeARTs)

“…Nonetheless, it is not an isolated finding. A similar pattern of deficiency has been shown among adults, children and infants in India,11 which is also a country with abundant sunlight throughout the year.…”

Vitamin D Deficiency and Critical Illness

“…Presence of coagulopathy, n (%) 28 implementation of routine supplementation of vitamin D in exclusively breast fed babies and a high index of suspicion of vitamin D deficiency in older children on a case to case basis and its treatment is warranted [29].…”

Serum Vitamin D Status and Outcome among Critically Ill Children Admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in South India

“…The data was based on relevant Indian studies that have estimated the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the general population [13][14][15][16].…”

“…Although vitamin D deficiency is reported to be common in India [13][14][15], with an estimated prevalence of 75-90 % [16] and vitamin D supplementation has been shown to improve outcome in chronically ill Indian children with moderate to severe asthma [17], there are no published studies on the association between vitamin D status and outcome in critically ill hospitalized children. Hence this study was designed to evaluate the vitamin D status and the impact of vitamin D deficiency on the clinical outcome of children admitted to the PICU.…”