Abstract

Low vitamin D status have been found to be associated with the risk of acute upper and lower respiratory tract infections. The deficiency of vitamin D was the significant risk factors contributed to the post-bronchiolitis wheezing in children.

We aimed to investigate the association between vitamin D status and occurrence of recurrent acute bronchiolitiThe children with acute bronchiolitis who aged 2 months to 2 years were hospitalized between December 2008 and April 2009 in the Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey were included in the analysis.

This study was prospective and case-control study. We used a questionnaire addressing demographic factors, exposure to sunlight and vitamin use.

We defined children with recurrent wheeze as = 3 wheezing attacks.

In total, 56 cases and 30 controls were enrolled. The mean age of all children was 12±7.2 months (2 months- 2 years). The mean of serum 25-OHD3 was 138±56.7 nmol/L in total patients, 134.3±55.6 nmol/L in cases and 145±59.2nmol/L in control group. There was not any significant difference between cases and controls in 25-OHD3 levels (p>0.05).

The mean of serum 25-OHD3 was 132.4±58 (10–263) nmol/L in group 1 (n=42) and 140±49 (75–208) nmol/L in group 2 (n=14), the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05).

There was no significant correlation between the number of wheezing attacks (p>0.05).

No correlation between vitamin D levels and acute bronchiolitis was found but this may be the result of few numbers of patients that we studied with.