Association of vitamin D supplementation with respiratory tract infection in infants

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency has been reported to be associated with respiratory tract infection (RTI). However, evidence regarding the effects of vitamin D supplementation on susceptibility of infants to RTI is limited. In this prospective birth cohort study, we examined whether vitamin D supplementation reduced RTI risk in 2,244 infants completing the follow‐up from birth to 6 months of age. The outcome endpoint was the first episode of paediatrician‐diagnosed RTI or 6 months of age when no RTI event occurred. Infants receiving vitamin D supplements at a daily dose of 400–600 IU from birth to the outcome endpoint were defined as vitamin D supplementation and divided into four groups according to the average frequency of supplementation: 0, 1–2, 3–4, and 5–7 days/week. We evaluated the relationship between vitamin D supplementation and time to the first episode of RTI with Kaplan–Meier plots. The associations of vitamin D supplementation with infant RTI, lower RTI (LRTI), and RTI‐related hospitalization were assessed using modified Poisson regression. The median time to first RTI episode was 60 days after birth (95% CI [60, 90]) for infants without supplementation and longer than 6 months of age for infants with supplementation (p < .001). We observed inverse trends between supplementation frequency and risk of RTI, LRTI, and RTI‐related hospitalization (p for trend < .001), with the risk ratios in the 5–7 days/week supplementation group of 0.46 (95% CI [0.41, 0.50]), 0.17 (95% CI [0.13, 0.24]), and 0.18 (95% CI [0.12, 0.27]), respectively. These associations were significant and consistent in a subgroup analysis stratified by infant feeding.

The Role of Vitamin D Deficiency in Children With Recurrent Wheezing—Clinical Significance

“…In a recent prospective birth cohort study from China, infants receiving 400-600 IU of vitamin D from birth were divided into 4 groups, according to the average frequency of supplementation (0, 1-2, 3-4, and 5-7 days/week). Inverse trends were observed between supplementation and risk of ARTI, LRTI, and ARTI-related hospitalization (51).…”

Potential Role of Vitamin D in the Elderly to Resist COVID-19 and to Slow Progression of Parkinson’s Disease

“…This may be why a consensus on vitamin D's antiviral actions has not been found at this time. However, several properties of vitamin D, and results from animal and human in vitro and in vivo studies, suggest that antiviral benefits are not out of the question [8,32,33,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42].…”

COVID-19 and vitamin D—Is there a link and an opportunity for intervention?

“…The latter effects could be crucial for their assumptive beneficial effects during SARS-CoV-2 infection, since it seems that SARS-CoV-2 initially uses immune evasion mechanisms, which in some patients is followed by immune hyperreaction and cytokine storm (1), as a common pathogenic mechanism of acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) development, regardless of the etiological factor. In that sense, the protective effect of vitamin D has been reported in many conditions associated with pneumonia, cytokine hyperproduction, and ARDS (2,8,10), and vitamin D was recently proposed as a repurposed drug for influenza A H5N1 virus-induced lung injury (3). Additionally, some studies suggest the effectiveness of vitamin D as an adjuvant therapy along with antiretroviral agents in HIV-infected patients (5).…”