The darker the child’s skin, the lower the vitamin D level (Spain) – March 2014

Plasma vitamin D levels in native and immigrant children under the age of 6 years of different ethnic origins ☆

Niveles plasmáticos de vitamina D en población autóctona y en poblaciones inmigrantes de diferentes etnias menores de 6 años de edad
Anales de Pediatría, Volume 82, Issue 5, May 2015, Pages 316-324, doi:10.1016/j.anpede.2015.04.003
J.M. Sánchez Muroa, D. Yeste Fernándezb, , , , A. Marín Muñoza, M. Fernández Canciob, L. Audí Parerab, A. Carrascosa Lezcanob
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Introduction
Nutritional rickets is an emergent disease in Spain, and occurs particularly in black and dark-skinned infants and children from immigrant populations. The aim of this study was to ascertain the vitamin D reserve in a population of native and immigrant children under the age of 6 years.

Population and methods
A prospective study was conducted at a Primary Healthcare Centre in Salt (Girona). Patients: 307 children with the following origin and race distribution: Caucasian (n = 85; 28%), Sub-Saharan (n = 101; 32.5%); Maghrebí (n = 87, 28.0%); Central-American (n = 20; 6.4%) and Indo-Pakistani (n = 14; 4.5%). The biochemistry blood parameters studied were calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, 25-hydroxivitamin D, and parathormone. A nutritional survey was used to estimate calcium and vitamin D intake and degree of sun exposure.

Results
Vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/ml) was detected in Caucasians (8%), Sub-Saharans (18%), Central-Americans (20%), Maghrebís (34.5%), and Indo-Pakistanis (64%). Of the children studied (n = 9), 2.9% had serious vitamin D deficiency (<10 ng/ml); only one child of Sub-Saharan origin met the biochemical criteria for classical rickets. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was significantly higher in children not receiving vitamin D supplements in the first year of life.

Conclusions
Plasma vitamin D concentrations were deficient in 22.5% of children under the age of six, being more prevalent in children of Indo-Pakistani and Maghrebí origin.

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