title: Serum vitamin D levels decrease in children with acute urticaria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute urticaria is an immune-inflammatory disease, characterised by acute immune activation. There has been increasing evidence showing that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased incidence and severity of immune-inflammatory disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate serum vitamin D levels in acute urticaria.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 30 children with acute urticaria and 30 control subjects. Concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], a biomarker of vitamin D status, were measured in serum of acute urticaria patients and compared with the control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences in baseline variables (age, gender, weight) between the groups. Vitamin D deficiency (<20ng/ml) was significantly higher in patients with acute urticaria than in control patients. Serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly lower in the study group compared to those in the control group (13.1±4.3 vs 28.2±7.4ng/mL, p<0.05). Moreover, we found negative correlation between mean duration of acute urticaria and serum vitamin D levels (p<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed a significant association of lower serum 25(OH)D concentrations with acute urticaria and an inverse relationship with disease duration. These findings may open up the possibility of the clinical use of vitamin D as a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of acute urticaria and a predictive marker for disease activity in acute urticaria. A potential role of vitamin D in pathogenesis and additive therapy in acute urticaria needs to be examined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: beril_ozdemir@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Allergy, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Köksal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Karakaş
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Allergy, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: O Y
authors.initials: OY
authors.lastname: Ozbek
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014581:Urticaria / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014807:Vitamin D
keywords: 25-Hydroxyvitamin; Acute urticaria; Allergy; Children; Skin diseases; Urticaria; Vitamin D