Journal de nutrition clinique et de métabolisme

Vitamin D and Bone Health in Very Low and Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants

Pinkal Patel, Norman Pollock and Jatinder Bhatia

Aim: Metabolic bone disease is fairly common in premature infants. The incidence and severity of the disease increase with decreasing gestational age and birth weight. Vitamin D in addition to calcium and phosphorus is important for optimal bone health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of current vitamin D supplementation (400 IU) on the level of Vitamin D and other bone health parameters (calcium, phosphorus, PTH and alkaline phosphatase) in premature infants, especially VLBW and ELBW infants.

 Methods: This was a prospective non-interventional trial for assessing the adequacy of Vitamin D at a dose of 400 IU for maintaining adequate Vitamin D level and other bone health parameters such as calcium, phosphorus, Alkaline phosphatase and PTH level in neonates whose birth weight ranged from 500 to 1500 grams. The study was conducted at the neonatal intensive care unit of Children’s Hospital of Georgia of Augusta University.

Results: Our study found 400 IU vitamin D supplementation may not be sufficient to achieve 25(OH) D levels in sufficient range (>30 ng/mL). There were no statistical significant effects of 400 IU of vitamin D supplementation on other bone health parameters such as calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase and PTH level on VLBW over ELBW group.