Children with active TB were 4.6X more likely to have low vitamin D – Dec 2014

Vitamin D and tuberculosis: a multicenter study in children

BMC Infectious Diseases 2014, 14:652 doi:10.1186/s12879-014-0652-7
Elisabetta Venturini 1, Ludovica Facchini 1, Nuria Martinez-Alier 2, Vas Novelli 3, Luisa Galli 1,
Maurizio de Martino 1 maurizio.demartino@unifi.it and Elena Chiappini 1


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Background The aim of this study is to evaluate vitamin D levels in children with latent and active TB compared to healthy controls of the same age and ethnical background.

Methods A multicenter observational study has been conducted in three tertiary care paediatric centres: Anna Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy; Evelina London Children's Hospital, London, United Kingdom and Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, United Kingdom. Vitamin D was considered deficient if the serum level was <25?nmol/L, insufficient between 25 and 50?nmol/L and sufficient for a level >50?nmol/L.

Results The study population included 996 children screened for TB, which have been tested for vitamin D. Forty-four children (4.4%) had active TB, 138 (13.9%) latent TB and 814 (81.7%) were controls. Our study confirmed a high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in the study population. A multivariate analysis confirmed an increased risk of hypovitaminosis D in children with latent and active TB compared to controls [(P?=?0.018; RR?=?1.61; 95%CI: 1.086-2.388), (P?<?0.0001; RR?=?4.587; 95%CI:1.190-9.608)].

Conclusions Hypovitaminosis D was significantly associated with TB infection in our study. Further studies are needed to evaluate a possible role of vitamin D in the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis in children.
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