Vitamin D was not associated with survival or cerebrospinal fluid cathelicidin levels in children with bacterial meningitis
Clinical Trial Acta Paediatr. 2018 Dec;107(12):2131-2136. doi: 10.1111/apa.14393. Epub 2018 May 31.
Okko Savonius 1, Tuula Pelkonen 1, Irmeli Roine 2, Heli Viljakainen 1 3, Sture Andersson 1, Josefina Fernandez 4, Heikki Peltola 1, Otto Helve 1
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Aim: Vitamin D deficiency impairs the immunological system and has been associated with worse outcomes of infectious diseases, but its role in bacterial meningitis remains unknown. We investigated whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations related to disease outcomes and to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cathelicidin concentrations in childhood bacterial meningitis.
Methods: All consecutively enrolled patients in a clinical trial on childhood bacterial meningitis in Latin America in 1996-2003 were considered, and 142 children, with a median age of seven months who had a confirmed bacterial aetiology and frozen serum available for further analyses, were included in this study. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were determined with a chemiluminescence immunoassay analyser, while CSF cathelicidin was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: The median serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was 96 (range 19-251) nmol/L. No relationship was found with patient survival, but children with any neurological sequelae had lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels than children without sequelae. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was unrelated to cathelicidin concentrations in CSF.
Conclusion: Although serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in children with bacterial meningitis was not associated with survival or CSF cathelicidin concentrations, its relationship with more detailed disease outcomes warrants further study.