Vitamin D prescribing in children in UK primary care practices: a population-based cohort study
Paediatrics http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031870
Mandy Wan1,2, Laura J Horsfall3, Emre Basatemur4, Jignesh Prakash Patel2,5, Rukshana Shroff6, Greta Rait3
Still a long ways to go - it appears that only 3% of youths now have Vitamin D prescriptions
Increased use of D has the following
People have been noticing. and increasing vitamin D or sunshine
Studies showing increased Vitamin D consumption and associated
Increased levels of vitamin D
Increased health
- Vitamin D levels increased in Saudi Arabia over a decade (more sun or supplements) – Sept 2021
- 26 X increase in Vitamin D prescriptions for youths in England in 8 years – Dec 2019
- Vitamin D levels continue to rise in the US - April 2019
- Iranian low vitamin D levels have been increasing – April 2019
- Vitamin D levels at Mayo Clinic increased over a decade – June 2018
- Vitamin D use increased 3.7 X, Omega-3 increased 9 X (US 1999-2012) – JAMA Oct 2016
- Vitamin D supplementation in Ireland - big increase in people with 20-50 nanograms in 20 years – June 2015
- Vitamin D in US children: those having more than 40 ng increased 60 percent (2001-2010) - Dec 2016
- 4 times fewer with vitamin D deficiency in just 4 years ( Connecticut) – March 2016
- 20X increase in vitamin D sold and 36 percent decrease in osteoporosis business in Australia – Nov 2013
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Vitamin D Levels After 6 months
Objective To examine temporal changes in the incidence and patterns of vitamin D supplementation prescribing by general practitioners (GPs) between 2008 and 2016.
Design Population-based cohort study.
Setting UK general practice health records from The Health Improvement Network.
Participants Children aged 0 to 17 years who were registered with their general practices for at least 3 months.
Outcome measures Annual incidence rates of vitamin D prescriptions were calculated, and rate ratios were estimated using multivariable Poisson regression to explore differences by sociodemographic factors. Data on the type of supplementation, dose, dosing schedule, linked 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) laboratory test results and clinical symptoms suggestive of vitamin D deficiency were analysed.
Results Among 2 million children, the crude annual incidence of vitamin D prescribing increased by 26-fold between 2008 and 2016 rising from 10.8 (95% CI: 8.9 to 13.1) to 276.8 (95% CI: 264.3 to 289.9) per 100 000 person-years. Older children, non-white ethnicity and general practices in England (compared with Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland) were independently associated with higher rates of prescribing. Analyses of incident prescriptions showed inconsistent supplementation regimens with an absence of pre-supplementation 25(OH)D concentrations in 28.7% to 56.4% of prescriptions annually. There was an increasing trend in prescribing at pharmacological doses irrespective of 25(OH)D concentrations, deviating in part from UK recommendations. Prescribing at pharmacological doses for children with deficient status increased from 3.8% to 79.4%, but the rise was also observed in children for whom guidelines recommended prevention doses (0% to 53%). Vitamin D supplementation at pharmacological doses was also prescribed in at least 40% of children with no pre-supplementation 25(OH)D concentrations annually.
Conclusions There has been a marked and sustained increase in vitamin D supplementation prescribing in children in UK primary care. Our data suggests that national guidelines on vitamin D supplementation for children are not consistently followed by GPs.