The impact of vitamin D on fetal and neonatal lung maturation. A systematic review.
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2015 Apr 1;308(7):L587-602. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00117.2014. Epub 2015 Jan 16.
Lykkedegn S1, Sorensen GL2, Beck-Nielsen SS1, Christesen HT3.
1Hans Christian Andersen Children's Hospital, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; Clinical Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark;
2Institute of Molecular Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular and Renal Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
3Hans Christian Andersen Children's Hospital, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; Clinical Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; henrik.christesen at rsyd.dk.
Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) are major complications to preterm birth. Hypovitaminosis D is prevalent in pregnancy. We systematically reviewed the evidence of the impact of vitamin D on lung development, surfactant synthesis, RDS, and BPD searching PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases with the terms vitamin D AND (surfactant OR lung maturation OR lung development OR respiratory distress syndrome OR fetal lung OR prematurity OR bronchopulmonary dysplasia). Three human studies, ten animal studies, two laboratory studies, and one combined animal and laboratory study were included. Human evidence was sparse, allowing no conclusions. BPD was not associated with vitamin D receptor polymorphism in a fully adjusted analysis. Animal and laboratory studies showed substantial positive effects of vitamin D on the alveolar type II cell, fibroblast proliferation, surfactant synthesis, and alveolarization. These data support the hypothesis of hypovitaminosis D as a frequent, modifiable risk factor of RDS and BPD, which should be tested in randomized controlled trials on pregnant women, those with threatening preterm delivery, or in the preterm neonates. Future experimental and ]human studies should aim to identify optimal time windows, vitamin D doses, and cut-off levels for 25-hydroxyvitamin D in interventions against RDS, BPD, and later adverse respiratory outcomes.
Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.
PMID: 25595644
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See also VitaminDWiki
items in BOTH of categories: infants and Breathing
- 4,000 IU Vitamin D while pregnant does not decrease infant respiratory problems (no surprise) - meta-analysis July 2025
- 3X reduction in respiratory infections in children taking more than 800 IU of Vitamin D weekly – Nov 2024
- Risk of childhood pneumonia reduced 30% by high Vitamin D - Oct 2024
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, in a third of preemies, 87% reduced risk for just 1 ng higher Vitamin D level – Oct 2024
- Infant respiratory distress reduced by Vitamin D – meta-analysis July 2024
- Vitamin D levels are low during Recurrent Wheezing - Feb 2024
- Obese asthmatic children Vitamin D - 50,000 IU then 8,000 IU daily - RCT Jan 2024
- France has injected 200,000 infants with RSV vaccine, based on no long-term data - Here we go again - Dec 2023
- Respiratory infections in children 6 X more likely if low Vitamin D (avg of 2 studies) - Aug 2023
- Prevention of allergies, eczema, asthma, in children – Vitamin D during pregnancy is a principal solution – July 2023
- Respiratory infection, children and Vitamin D - many studies
- Asthma by age 7 if wheezing before preschools and poor vitamin D Receptor - May 2023
- 3% fewer respiratory problems in children if single 100K vitamin D in 3rd trimester – May 2023
- Chronic tonsillitis virtually eliminated in children by Vitamin D (50,000 IU weekly) – RCT May 2023
- RSV kills 100,000 children annually around the world (Vitamin D can help)– May 2022
- Small doses of Vitamin D do not reduce childhood breathing allergies – meta-analysis Oct 2022
- Vitamin D reduces childhood allergic airway diseases (confirmed by metabolomics this time) – May 2022
- Wheezing and asthmatic children have weaker Vitamin D responses - May 2022
- Croup (due to viruses) has surged with Omicron - March 2022
- Allergy medications may be improved by Vitamin D (6X for birch pollen in this case) – Aug 2021
- Infant Respiratory Infections not reduced by mothers taking small amount of vitamin D (28,000 weekly)– RCT July 2021
- Recurrent RTI treatment success: Conventional 71 pcnt, Vitamin D 96 pcnt – March 2021
- The 6 percent of infants hospitalized for ARI are 2.2 X more likely to be Vitamin D deficient – April 2021
- Acute pneumonia in children 3X less likely if greater than 30 ng of vitamin D – Jan 2021
- Preemie Respiratory Distress Syndrome is 5X more likely if low vitamin D – Dec 2020
- Vaccinations resulted in increased office visits for children 16 months later - Nov 2020
- Recurrent Wheezing in children is associated with low Vitamin D – several studies
- Respiratory viral infection (RSV) and low vitamin D - many studies
- Lower Respiratory Tract Infection in Infants reduced 5.9 X by daily 600 IU of vitamin D (China) - March 2020
- Gene that predicts wheezing is associated with low vitamin D – Oct 2019
- Bronchiolitis in children associated with both pollution and low solar – July 2019
- Allergic Rhinitis in infants treated by 1,000 IU vitamin D daily – June 2019
- Asthmatic children 5X more likely to have a poor Vitamin D Receptor – June 2019
- Babies 3.6X more likely to go to hospital for asthma if asthmatic mother had low vitamin D while pregnant – June 2019
- Childhood Asthma somewhat reduced by 2400 IU vitamin D late in pregnancy (néed more, earlier) March 2019
- Respiratory Distress Syndrome in preemies 5 X more likely if poor vitamin D receptor – Feb 2019
- Black infant recurrent wheezing rate dropped from 42 percent to 31 percent with just 400 IU of vitamin D – RCT Dec 2018
- Asthma in child 2.3 X more likely if both parents asthmatic (unless add Vitamin D) – VDAART Nov 2018
- Immature lungs in immature newborns – Vitamin D helps – Sept 2018
- Bronchiolitis had 1.3 X longer hospitalization if low Vitamin D (1016 infants) – Sept 2018
- Pneumonia in Egyptian Children 3.6 X more likely if poor Vitamin D Receptor – Aug 2018
- Childhood pneumonia not treated by 100,000 IU of vitamin D – Cochrane (need more, inhaled) – July 2018
- Pneumonia is increasing (now 1 in 6 child deaths), more vitamin D studies needed – June 2018
- Childhood Respiratory Health hardly improved with 600 IU of vitamin D (need much more) – May 2018
- Indoor pollution is a problem with obese black asthmatic children – May 2018
- Both parents smoke – child’s vitamin D level was 30 percent lower and worse asthma – May 2018
- Allergic rhinitis in children reduced somewhat during pollen season by just 1,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT Jan 2018
- Half the risk of Influenza -A in infants taking 1200 IU of vitamin D for 4 months – RCT Jan 2018
- Rapid newborn breathing (transient tachypnea) associated with low vitamin D – Dec 2017
- Preemies with poor lungs (Respiratory distress syndrome) have low levels of vitamin D – Nov 2017
See also Vitamin D Council
- The role of vitamin D in respiratory distress among newborns Aug 2015
"RDS develops in about 1% of all newborn infants and is the leading cause of death in preterm infants."
"The incidence decreases with advancing gestational age, from about 50% in babies born at 26–28 weeks, to about 25% at 30–31 weeks."
"In a cohort study, the researchers found that 28% of the infants with 25(OH)D <10 ng/ml had RDS compared to 14% of the infants with higher 25(OH)D. RDS was reduced 3.34 times in newborns with higher vitamin D levels."