Relationship between severity of asthma attacks and vitamin D levels in children

Abstract

Background: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood. The increased prevalence of asthma has led to extensive research on its mechanism. Vitamin D is one of the factors believed to be effective in asthma. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the frequency and severity of asthma attacks and Vitamin D levels in children. Methods: The study population consisted of children with asthma aged 5-12 years. Three-milliliter blood samples were taken from the patients and their serum Vitamin D levels were measured using electrochemiluminescence. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency distribution tables and mean and standard deviation. Results: Thirty children were enrolled in the study. None of the children had any history of Vitamin D supplementation. There were no differences between the children with mild and moderate asthma in terms of the demographic variables. There were no significant relationships between the severity of asthma and blood and biochemistry factors. Serum Vitamin D levels were 59.8 ng/ml in the patients with mild asthma and 42.8 ng/ml in those with moderate asthma (P < 0.05). Vitamin D levels had a negative correlation with the severity of asthma. Conclusions: The findings showed that lower levels of Vitamin D increase the severity of asthma. Vitamin D levels should, therefore, be consistently monitored in patients with asthma. © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.