Association between Early Childhood Vitamin D Status and Age 6-Year Lung Function among Children with a History of Severe Bronchiolitis in Infancy

• Published in: Nutrients 2023-05, Vol.15 (10), p.2379
• Main Authors: Doumat, George, Mehta, Geneva D, Mansbach, Jonathan M, Hasegawa, Kohei, Camargo, Jr, Carlos A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 25-Hydroxyvitamin D; Age; Alfacalcidol; Asthma; Asthma - complications; Asthma in children; Bronchiolitis; Bronchiolitis - complications; Bronchopneumonia; Calcifediol; Calciferol; Child; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Children; Ethnicity; Family income; Forced Expiratory Volume; Health aspects; Hispanic people; Households; Humans; Infant; Infants (Premature); Lung; lung function; Lungs; Minority & ethnic groups; Passive smoking; Premature birth; Prospective Studies; Reproducibility; Respiratory function; Risk factors; serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D; Smoking; Spirometry; Tobacco smoke; Vital Capacity; Vitamin D; Vitamin deficiency; Vitamins
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15102379

Improving lung health in children requires understanding the risk factors for decreased lung function. Our objective was to investigate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and lung function in children. We analyzed data from a prospective cohort of infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis (severe bronchiolitis), a group at high risk for developing childhood asthma. Children were followed longitudinally, and 25(OH)D and spirometry testing were conducted at ages 3 and 6, respectively. We used a multivariable linear regression adjusted for race/ethnicity, annual household income, premature birth, and secondhand smoke exposure to examine the association between serum 25(OH)D level and primary outcomes (percent predicted [pp] of forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and the forced vital capacity (FVC)) and secondary outcome (FEV1pp/FVCpp). Serum 25(OH)D level and age 6 spirometry were available for 363 children. In adjusted analyses comparing the highest quintile (Q5) of serum 25(OH)D (median 37 ng/mL) to the lowest quintile (Q1; median 18 ng/mL), FEV1pp was 6% lower ( = 0.03) in Q1. Likewise, FVCpp was 7% lower ( = 0.03) in Q1. There was no difference in FEV1pp/FVCpp across the serum 25(OH)D quintiles. Compared to children with higher vitamin D status at age 3, those with lower status had decreased FEV1pp and FVCpp at 6 years.