Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy and its effects on neonatal outcome

Abstract

Background: India has one of the highest Vitamin D deficiency rates in pregnancy in the world and yet we have limited research to study its various effects from our country. We aim to study the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy and effect on neonatal outcome after supplementation.Methods: 200 pregnant women were recruited at 26 weeks and more. They were divided into sufficient group (normal levels of the vitamin), supplemented group (recruited at 26 weeks and supplemented for 8 weeks) and unsupplemented group (recruited after 34 weeks and so could not be supplemented) based on time of recruitment and levels of vitamin D. They were followed up till discharge of newborn from the hospital. Neonatal outcomes were noted.Results: The prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy in present study was 94.5%. Vegetarians and urban residents were more likely to have this deficiency. Admissions to NICU were significantly less in neonates of vitamin D supplemented women.Conclusions: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is very high during pregnancy and further studies are needed to clearly define its role in neonatal outcome.

Study of Vitamin-D Deficiency among Pregnant Women in their First Trimester Visiting a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

“…14 In a study by Gupta S, et al, out of the total 137 women with VDD (less than 20ng/ml), 31.4% were multigravida and 68.6% were primigravida, out of the total 24 women with severe VDD (less than 4ng/ml), 20.8% were multigravida and 79.2% were primigravida and out of the total 28 women with Vitamin-D insufficiency (between 20-30ng/ml), 32.1% were multigravida and 67.9% were primigravida. 15 In this study of mine, among the 21 cases with VDD 52.38% of them were working and 47.61% were nonworking; 14.28% were vegetarian and 85.71% of them were non-vegetarian; only 1 of them had history of intake of vitamin-D and calcium intake; 76.19% had sun exposure of less than 1 hr daily and 23.80% of them had sun exposure more than 1 hour daily. The exposure duration was 60 minutes; 47.80% of the subjects had less than an hour of sun exposure during the day while 52.20% had more than 60 minutes.…”

“…14 Contradictory to this study in a study by Gupta S, et al out of the total 137 women with VDD (less than 20ng/ml), 26 (19.0%) were non-vegetarian and 111 (81.0%) were vegetarian, out of the total 24 women with severe VDD (less than 4ng/ml), 5 (20.8%) were non-vegetarian and 19 (79.2%) were non-vegetarian and out of the total 28 women with Vitamin-D insufficiency (between 20-30 ng/ml), 4 (14.3%) were non-vegetarian and 24 (85.7%) were vegetarian. 15 Regarding the Vitamin-D level in pregnant women in this study where the Vitamin-D level was categorized according to IOM; VDD, Vitamin-D insufficiency and sufficient was seen in 44.68%, 31.91%, and 23.40% pregnant women respectively. A study by Shrestha D, et al in Bhaktapur revealed that the prevalence VDD (<20ng/ml) and insufficient Vitamin-D level (20-30 ng/ml) among pregnant women at the time of delivery were 81% (64/79) and 11.39% (9/79) respectively.…”