Infant psychomotor development has a U shaped relationship with vitamin D cord blood levels – April 2015

Cord Blood Vitamin D and Neurocognitive Development Are Nonlinearly Related in Toddlers.

J Nutr. 2015 Apr 15. pii: jn208801. [Epub ahead of print]
Zhu P1, Tong SL1, Hao JH2, Tao RX3, Huang K2, Hu WB4, Zhou QF2, Jiang XM5, Tao FB6.
1Department of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health and Aristogenics, Hefei, China; School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Australia;
2Department of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health and Aristogenics, Hefei, China;
3Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hefei First People's Hospital, Hefei, China; and.
4School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Australia;
5Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hefei Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Hefei, China.
6Department of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health and Aristogenics, Hefei, China; fbtao at ahmu.edu.cn.

BACKGROUND:
Little is known about the relation between vitamin D status in early life and neurodevelopment outcomes.

OBJECTIVE:
This study was designed to examine the association of cord blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] at birth with neurocognitive development in toddlers.

METHODS:
As part of the China-Anhui Birth Cohort Study, 363 mother-infant pairs with completed data were selected. Concentrations of 25(OH)D in cord blood were measured by radioimmunoassay. Mental development index (MDI) and psychomotor development index (PDI) in toddlers were assessed at age 16-18 mo by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. The data on maternal sociodemographic characteristics and other confounding factors were also prospectively collected.

RESULTS:
Toddlers in the lowest quintile of cord blood 25(OH)D exhibited a deficit of 7.60 (95% CI: -12.4, -2.82; P = 0.002) and 8.04 (95% CI: -12.9, -3.11; P = 0.001) points in the MDI and PDI scores, respectively, compared with the reference category. Unexpectedly, toddlers in the highest quintile of cord blood 25(OH)D also had a significant deficit of 12.3 (95% CI: -17.9, -6.67; P < 0.001) points in PDI scores compared with the reference category.

CONCLUSIONS:
This prospective study suggested that there was an inverted-U-shaped relation between neonatal vitamin D status and neurocognitive development in toddlers. Additional studies on the optimal 25(OH)D concentrations in early life are needed.

© 2015 American Society for Nutrition.
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PMID: 25878203