Analysis of pupillary responses in pediatric patients with vitamin D deficiency

• Published in: Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology 2024-08, Vol.262 (8), p.2625-2632
• Main Authors: Biçer, Gamze Yıldırım, Yılmaz Öztorun, Zeynep, Biçer, Kadir Eren, Zor, Kürşad Ramazan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Autonomic nervous system; Children; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neurophthalmology; Ophthalmology; Parasympathetic nervous system; Pediatrics; Population studies; Vitamin D; Vitamin deficiency
• ISSN: 0721-832X; 1435-702X; 1435-702X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00417-024-06428-7

Purpose To evaluate the effects of vitamin D deficiency on pupillary responses in the pediatric population. Methods The study was conducted using data from the right eyes of 52 children with vitamin D deficiency and 52 healthy children. Measurements were taken under static and dynamic conditions with automatic pupillometry. Static measurements were performed at scotopic, mesopic, and photopic light intensities. The mean pupil dilation speed was calculated by observing the changes in pupil dilation over time according to dynamic measurements. Differences between patient and control groups were analyzed for the static and dynamic measurements and the mean pupil dilation speed. Results While the two groups were similar in terms of scotopic, mesopic, the first dynamic measurements, and the pupil dilation speed data ( p  > 0.05), a significant difference was found in the photopic conditions ( p  = 0.001). The mean pupil diameter of the patient group was 4.46 ± 0.928 mm and 3.95 ± 0.556 mm in the control group under photopic conditions. Conclusions Pediatric patients with vitamin D deficiency have significantly larger pupil diameters in photopic conditions than healthy children. These results suggest that there is an autonomic dysfunction in vitamin D deficiency in the pediatric population, especially pointing to the parasympathetic system.