Vitamin D levels in children with bronchial asthma
Background: Bronchial asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways in childhood. Vitamin D, initially described as a vitamin that regulated calcium homeostasis, has also been shown to exert important antimicrobial effects and is also a potent immune system regulator having a potential role in various allergic diseases. The main objective of this study was to look the levels of vitamin D in children with bronchial asthma and to study the co relationship between vitamin D levels and severity of asthma.Methods: This study included 80 (40 asthmatic children and 40 healthy controls) children aged between 4 and 15 year. Serum vitamin D levels where determined and compared between the two groups. The association between vitamin D levels and severity of asthma was studied in the asthmatic children.Results: Among 40 asthmatic children the mean serum vitamin D level was 16.6±11.56 ng/ml, while as the mean vitamin D levels in healthy control subjects was 24.225±2.764 ng/ml and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p=0.001). Vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent in asthmatic patients and there was a direct and a significant relationship between serum vitamin D levels and severity of asthma.Conclusion: In this study, vitamin D levels were considerably lower in children with asthma than in healthy children. Also, in this study vitamin D deficient asthma patients have more severe asthma than the patients who have sufficient vitamin D levels.