Vitamin D status and cardiometabolic assessment in infancy

Abstract

Background: Infants are at risk of vitamin D insufficiency, owing to their limited exposure to direct sunlight and the low levels of vitamin D in breast milk. Although vitamin D insufficiency has been associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in children, these associations have not been studied in infants, despite their unique risks. Therefore, we sought to determine whether vitamin D status was associated with cardiometabolic measures in infants.Methods: Ninety-nine full-term infants were evaluated at the age of 1 y with measurement of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OH-D) and an array of traditional (fasting glucose, insulin, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides) and emerging (C-reactive protein, adiponectin, leptin) cardiometabolic risk factors. On the basis of 25-OH-D levels, infants were classified as vitamin D sufficient (n = 59), vitamin D insufficient (n = 29), or vitamin D deficient (n = 11).Results: Duration of exclusive breastfeeding and prevalence of nonwhite ethnicity were highest in the vitamin D-deficient group (P = 0.05 and 0.03, respectively). Current use of vitamin D supplementation was highest in the sufficient group (P = 0.02). Of note, however, there were no significant differences among the three groups in any of the cardiometabolic risk factors, on both unadjusted and covariate-adjusted analyses.Conclusion: Vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency is not associated with an adverse cardiometabolic risk factor profile in 1-y-old infants. © 2013 International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc.