Vitamin D status and its influencing factors among pregnant women in Szeged, Hungary

• Published in: European journal of public health 2021-10, Vol.31 (Supplement_3)
• Main Authors: Paulik, Edit, Horváth, E, Szabó, A, Polanek, E, Gyurkovits, Z, Németh, G, Orvos, H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blood; Calciferol; Chi-square test; College faculty; Cord blood; Cross-sectional studies; Data collection; Diet; Dietary intake; Dietary supplements; Documentation; Fetuses; Gynecology; Immunoregulation; Infants; Informed consent; Laboratory tests; Margarine; Maternal and infant welfare; Medicine; Mothers; Neonates; Obstetrics; Pregnancy; Public health; Questionnaires; Research ethics; Serum levels; Statistical analysis; Statistical tests; Statistics; Vitamin D; Vitamins; Women; Womens health
• ISSN: 1101-1262; 1464-360X
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.073

Abstract Background During pregnancy vitamin D plays an important role in maternal and fetal immune regulation as well. The aim of our study was to evaluate vitamin D serum level and its influencing factors among pregnant women and their newborns. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed among women delivering at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2019. Altogether 301 women were included into the study, who filled the questionnaire one or two days after delivery. Data collection was based on a self-administered questionnaire, health documentation, and maternal serum and infant cord-blood vitamin D laboratory tests. Vitamin D intake was evaluated by dietary and vitamin D containing dietary supplement intake. Statistical analyses (descriptive statistics, chi square, Pearson's correlation, Kruskal-Wallis test) were performed with the IBM SPSS 26.0 program. The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Szeged (number: 4419). Written informed consent was obtained from each participant of the study. Results The average maternal age of the included women was 33.28 years. More than half of women did not eat sea fish during the pregnancy, 66.3% drank daily milk, 51.5% ate daily yoghurt, and 30.2% used daily margarine as a spread. During pregnancy 77.6% of included women took some kind of vitamin D containing dietary supplement with which their average daily vitamin-D supplementation was 17.19 microgram (SD = 22.45 microgram). The average serum vitamin D level was 52.81 nmol/L in mothers and 72.96 nmol/L in newborns' cord-blood. Only 12.1% of mothers, and 43.1% of their newborns reached the optimal (75 nmol/L) level. Conclusions Our results showed that dietary and supplementary vitamin-D intake are insufficient among pregnant women, and consequently vitamin D serum levels are also lower than the optimal among mothers and their newborns, consequently. Grant support: University of Szeged, Faculty of Medicine, Hetényi Géza Grant Key messages Low vitamin D level is a global public health issue. Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy is important to maintain the optimal vitamin D serum level.