Vitamin D During Pregnancy and Infancy and Infant Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration

Study answer

What this study found

Vitamin D3 supplementation increased maternal and infant serum 25(OH)D concentrations versus placebo, with the higher-dose arm generally achieving the highest values across time points. Maternal median 25(OH)D at 36 weeks was 39 and 41 ng/mL in the lower- and higher-dose arms versus 20 ng/mL with placebo; cord blood medians were 24 and 26 versus 13 ng/mL; and infant medians at 2 months were 34 and 43 versus 20 ng/mL. At 6 months, infant medians were 34 and 38 ng/mL versus 31 ng/mL, while the proportion reaching 25(OH)D ≥20 ng/mL was 82% and 89% versus 74%, and the proportion reaching ≥30…

Study & population

Randomized, double-blind trial in Auckland, New Zealand, enrolling pregnant women with singleton pregnancies at 26 to 30 weeks' gestation from a community-based primary care maternity clinic and following their healthy infants to 6 months.

Intervention

Oral vitamin D3 drops were given from 26 to 30 weeks' gestation until delivery for mothers and from birth to 6 months for infants.

Key limitation

The trial was modest in size and followed infants only to 6 months, so longer-term durability and clinical outcomes were not assessed.

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Original abstract