Afshan Mehboob Khan, Shahjabeen Khan, Darakhshan M Saleem, Fearoz Khan, Uzair Abbas, Shahneela Siraj.
Serum vitamin D status in children of bronchial asthma.
Rawal Med J Jan ;45(3):607-10.

Objective: To assess and compare serum vitamin D in pediatric asthmatic patients with non-asthmatic healthy children to observe its role in the progression of asthma Methodology: This case control study was conducted in Physiology Department of Basic Medical Sciences Institute, Karachi, from 2013 to April 2015 with the association of National Institute of Child Health (NICH). It included 170 children of age between 6-14 years of both gender. All subjects were equally grouped into controls and cases. Controls were recruited from school and diagnosed cases of asthma were selected from NICH as per Global Initiative for Asthma Guideline. Serum vitamin D was estimated by ELISA kit. Asthma was assessed by spirometry. Data were analyzes by SPSS version 21. Results: Vitamin D in controls was 17.91+-0.48ng/ml and in cases was 15.18+-0.21ng/ml (p<0.001). Serum levels of mild and moderate asthmatics with insufficient vitamin D were 16.5+- 0.24ng/ml and 14.31+-0.41ng/ml respectively and deficient vitamin D of both groups were 7.3+- 0.15ng/ml and 6.8+- 0.44ng/ml respectively. Significant indirect association was found between vitamin D and age (r = -0.326, p=0.01). vitamin D was directly related with FEV1 (r=0.274.p= 0.04). Conclusion: In asthma, serum insufficient or deficient vitamin D levels result in increased inflammatory state of airways, which may impair the natural immune defense system of lungs.

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