Diarrhea more common in children having low vitamin D - Nov 2014

Vitamin D status in children with recurrent acute diarrhea

International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 3 Number 11 (2014) pp. 858-868 http://www.ijcmas.com
Neveen Tawfik Abed1, Nagwa Shaban Mohamed Aly2*, Eman Ramadan Abdel-Gawad3 and Safia Galal Ibrahim1
departments of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Egypt
Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Egypt
3Clinical pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Egypt

VitaminDWiki Summary

60 Egyptian children

<20 ng 20-30 ng> 30 ng
# of recurrance 5.76.0 3.3
Giardia lamblia parasite 23 %0 % 0 %

Causality not known
1) Diarrhea reduced absoprtion of Vitamin D
2) Low Vitamin D increased parasite


Over the past decade, interest has grown in the role of vitamin D in many non skeletal medical conditions. The immunemodulatory properties of vitamin D may influence susceptibility to infection. This cross sectional study aimed to study the association between vitamin D level and recurrent acute diarrhea. The study was conducted on 80 simple randomly selected children, aged from 4 to 12 years from November 2013 to May 2014, sixty patients were suffering from recurrent acut diarrhea and twenty were healthy, age and sex matched children taken as a control group. All children were subjected to complete history taking, clinical examination and Laboratory investigations in the form of hemoglobin level, stool analysis and estimation of the serum level of vitamin D by ELISA. There was highly significant decrease in vitamin D levels in patients group than control group. In patients with recurrent acute diarrhea, vitamin D deficiency was found in 58%, insufficient in 20 % and sufficient in 22%. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased rate of diarrheal attacks, vomiting and abdominal pain. Hemoglobin level was decreased below normal in 26.7% of children with recurrent diarrhea; most of them were vitamin D deficient children. Stool examination in children with recurrent diarrhea detected Entameba histolytica in 8.3%, Giardia lamblia in 13%, Ascaris lumbricoides in 1.7% and Ancylostoma duodenal in 1.7%, all parasites were detected in vitamin D deficient children, except E. histolytica detected also in vitamin D sufficient child. Recurrent acute diarrhea was associated with decreased serum level of vitamin D in preschool and school-age children. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased number of diarrheal attacks and Giardia lamblia parasitic infection.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki.


See also VitaminDWiki

Years lost due to disability (DALY) @ is.gd/disability_VitD

4746 visitors, last modified 29 Dec, 2016,
Printer Friendly Follow this page for updates