Serum Vitamin D Concentration in Asthmatic Children and Its Association with Recovery Time from an Asthma Exacerbation

Introduction: The relationship of vitamin D and asthma is known but the association between vitamin D and time required to recover from acute asthma exacerbation has not been studied.

Aims: To find an association between serum vitamin D levels and time required to recover from an asthma exacerbation (recovery days) in asthmatic children from age 5 to 15 years. And to find association of other risk factors of asthma on recovery days.

Study Design: It was a cross sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Paediatrics, Qatar Hospital Orangi Town and Abbassi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, between February 2012 to June 2014.

Methodology: We included 99 asthmatic children (60 male and 39 females; age range 5 to 15 years) at the time of an acute asthma exacerbation. Spirometry was done using Vitalograph (alpha) (UK). FEV1/FEVC ratio <80 % was used to confirm acute asthma exacerbation. Serum vitamin D levels were measured by chemiluminescence method using Abbott's ARCHITECT clinical chemistry analyzer. Children were followed up for confirming recovery by spirometry. FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC ratio within the reference ranges (The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and Polgar) were taken as normal.

Results: Applying Poisson regression model it was found out that that there was no association between vitamin D levels and time to recover from asthma (P =.398). 28.6% (n=2) children showed early recovery when recovery days were associated with exposure to home environment (P =0.000).

Conclusions: Despite the fact that 95% of the subjects with asthma had either vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency but there was no significant association between vitamin D levels and the time required to recover from an asthma exacerbation. Further studies are needed to establish the role of vitamin D in asthma.