title: Vitamin D status of low birth weight infants in Delhi: a comparative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate vitamin D status of preterm and term low birthweight (LBW) and term normal birth weight (NBW; weight ≥ 2500 g) infants at birth and in early infancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 220 LBW and 119 NBW infants along with their mothers. Blood samples of both infants and mothers were taken within 48 h of birth, and that of infants were repeated at 3 months. Serum levels of calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and parathormone (PTH) were estimated using standard tests. Our primary outcome was vitamin D deficiency (VDD; serum 25OHD <20 ng/ml in mothers and <15 ng/ml in infants). Other outcomes were raised PTH (>46 pg/ml), raised AlkP (>120 U/l in mothers and 420 U/l in infants), and clinical rickets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  VDD was present in 186 (87.3%) of LBW and 103 (88.6%) of NBW infants at birth, and in 77 (60.6%) of LBW and 55 (71.6%) of NBW infants at a median corrected age of 12 and 15 weeks, respectively. VDD was almost universal (93-97%) among mothers of both groups. Raised PTH was present in 138 (63.6%) of LBW and 48 (41.4%) of NBW infants at birth, and in 58 (45.7%) of LBW and 38 (49.3%) of NBW infants at follow-up. Clinical rickets was present in 17 (13.4%) of LBW and 4 (4.9%) of NBW infants at 12-14 weeks of corrected age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High prevalence of VDD in LBW as well as NBW infants with clinical rickets at an early age underlines the need to study the effect of various vitamin D supplementation regimens in these infants to identify the optimal dose.
authors.affiliation: All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, Kasturba Hospital and Swami Dayanand Hospital, New Delhi 110029, India. aranag@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Deenanath
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Virmani
authors.forename: Munna Lal
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Jaipal
authors.forename: Shuchita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: M Jeeva
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sankar
authors.forename: Sunita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.forename: Anand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Veena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Devgan
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deorari
authors.forename: Vinod K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Paul
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000097:blood*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000097:blood; D009035:Mothers; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012279:Rickets / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D018977:Micronutrients; D014807:Vitamin D; D002118:Calcium