Vitamin D status in children with a psychiatric diagnosis, autism spectrum disorders, or internalizing disorders

Jet Muskens1,2*, Helen Klip1, Janneke R. Zinkstok1,2,3,Martine van Dongen-Boomsma1,2 and Wouter G. Staal1,2,4

1Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 2Department

of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 3Department

of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, Utrecht, Netherlands, 4Leiden Institute for Brain

and Cognition, Leiden, Netherlands

Background and objective: Multiple studies suggest that children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have significantly lower vitamin D3 levels than typically developing children. However, whether vitamin D3 deficiency is more common in children with ASD than in children with other psychiatric disorders remains unclear. This study was conducted to explore the prevalence of vitamin D3 in children with a psychiatric diagnosis including children with ASD or with internalizing disorders (mood and anxiety disorders). In addition, this study investigated the potential associations between vitamin D3 and Body Mass Index (BMI).

Materials and methods: Clinical data, including BMI and vitamin D3 levels, of 93 children (6–18 years; n = 47; 51% female) with ASD (n = 58) and internalizing disorders (n = 37) were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: In the overall sample, the prevalence of vitamin D3 deficiency (<50 nmol/L) was 77.4%. Additionally, 75.9% of the children with ASD and 79.5% with internalizing disorders had vitamin D3 deficiency. BMI was inversely related to vitamin D3 in the total group (p = 0.016). The multiple regression model for the total group significantly predicted vitamin D3 (p = 0.022). Age contributed significantly to the prediction. Stratified for sex and primary diagnosis, multiple regression models showed that for boys with ASD, higher BMI levels were associated with lower vitamin D3 levels (p = 0.031); in boys with internalizing disorders and in girls, no relation was found between BMI and vitamin D3 levels.

Conclusion: In this this cross-sectional, explorative study high rates of vitamin D3 deficiency in children with different psychiatric disorders were found. The results showed an inverse relation between BMI and vitamin D3 levels in the total group. Vitamin D3 deficiency was particularly common in boys with ASD and obesity. Lifestyle factors may contribute to the association between high BMI and low vitamin D3 levels in boys with ASD. Vitamin D3 deficiency is common in patients with psychiatric disorders and it is highly recommended to increase clinicians’ awareness of this common and remediable risk factor.

Source: Front. Psychiatry 13:958556. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.958556

Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths

William B. Grant1,* , Henry Lahore 2, Sharon L. McDonnell 3, Carole A. Baggerly3 ,
Christine B. French 3 , Jennifer L. Aliano 3 and Harjit P. Bhattoa 4

Abstract

The world is in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health measures that can reduce the risk of infection and death in addition to quarantines are desperately needed. This article reviews the roles of vitamin D in reducing the risk of respiratory tract infections, knowledge about the epidemiology of influenza and COVID-19, and how vitamin D supplementation might be a useful measure to reduce  risk. Through several mechanisms, vitamin D can reduce risk of infections.

Those mechanisms include inducing cathelicidins and defensins that can lower viral replication rates and reducing concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines that produce the inflammation that injures the lining of the lungs, leading to pneumonia, as well as increasing concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Several observational studies and clinical trials reported that vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of influenza, whereas others did not. Evidence supporting the role

of vitamin D in reducing risk of COVID-19 includes that the outbreak occurred in winter, a time when 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations are lowest; that the number of cases in the Southern Hemisphere near the end of summer are low; that vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome; and that case-fatality rates increase with age and with chronic disease comorbidity, both of which are associated with lower 25(OH)D concentration. To reduce the risk of infection, it is recommended that people at risk of influenza and/or COVID-19 consider taking 10,000 IU/d of vitamin D3 for a few weeks to rapidly raise 25(OH)D concentrations, followed by 5000 IU/d. The goal should be to raise 25(OH)D concentrations above 40–60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L).

For treatment of people who become infected with COVID-19, higher vitamin D3 doses might be

useful. Randomized controlled trials and large population studies should be conducted to evaluate

these recommendations.

Keywords: acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); ascorbic acid; cathelicidin; coronavirus;

COVID-19; cytokine storm; influenza; observational; pneumonia; prevention; respiratory tract

infection; solar radiation; treatment; UVB; vitamin C; vitamin D.

Source: www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients