78 percent of pregnant immigrants in Sweden had less than 10 ng low vitamin D – Nov 2013

Observational study of vitamin D levels and pain in pregnant immigrant women living in Sweden

Gynecological Endocrinology, Nov 11, 2013. (doi:10.3109/09513590.2013.856408)
Ingrid Bergström 1,2, Mats Palmér 1, Jan Persson 3, and Agneta Blanck 2
1Centre for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes,
2Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, and
3Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Karolinska University Hospital,
Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
Ingrid Bergström, Centre for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, Karolinska University Hospital,Huddinge, S-141 86 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel: +46 721 777857. E-mail: ingrid.b.bergstrom at karolinska.se

The aim was to determine the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in pregnant immigrant women assessed by the levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) as well as the correlation to musculoskeletal pain.

• Sixty-eight pregnant immigrant women were included.
• Fifty-one native Swedish pregnant women served as controls.

25-hydroxyvitamin D, PTH, ALP and musculoskeletal pain, rated on a visual analogue scale, were analyzed in all women in gestational week 12 and in the immigrant women at 6–12 months postpartum.
A significantly higher proportion of immigrant women (77.9%) had levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D <25 nmol/l compared with 3.9% in controls.
Of the immigrant women, 29.4% had 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <12 nmol/l, but none of the controls.
Musculoskeletal pain evaluated with a visual analogue scale (VAS) was significantly higher for the immigrant women than for the controls at gestational week 12. However, no within group correlation was seen between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, PTH or ALP and pain.
A significant negative correlation between changes in 25-hydroxyvitamin D and pain from gestational week 12 to postpartum was observed.
Hypovitaminosis D is prevalent in immigrant women living in Sweden.
There is an indication that pain might be associated with hypovitaminosis D.

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Summary by VitaminDWiki

	Immigrant	Swedish
< 10 ng	78%	4%
% less than 5 ng	30%	0%

See also VitaminDWiki

• Dark skin pregnancies and Vitamin D - many studies
• Vitamin D injection helped migrants a bit, but some had poor or even negative responses – Dec 2017
• Overview Pregnancy and vitamin D which has the following summary
  

  IU	Cumulative Benefit	Blood level	Cofactors	Calcium	$*/month
  200	Better bones for mom with 600 mg of Calcium	6 ng/ml increase	Not needed	No effect	$0.10
  400	Less Rickets (but not zero with 400 IU) 3X less adolescent Schizophrenia Fewer child seizures	20-30 ng/ml	Not needed	No effect	$0.20
  2000	2X More likely to get pregnant naturally/IVF 2X Fewer dental problems with pregnancy 8X less diabetes 4X fewer C-sections (>37 ng) 4X less preeclampsia (40 ng vs 10 ng) 5X less child asthma 2X fewer language problems age 5	42 ng/ml	Desirable	< 750 mg	$1
  4000	2X fewer pregnancy complications 2X fewer pre-term births	49 ng/ml	Should have cofactors	< 750 mg	$3
  6000	Probable: larger benefits for above items Just enough D for breastfed infant More maternal and infant weight		Should have cofactors	< 750 mg	$4

CDC study of late 2011 has the following data
Percentage less than 20 ng

Also: Less than 12 ng: White 4%, Mexican 17%, Black 41%