Reduced risk of recurrent wheezing at 12 months’ adjusted age for black infants born preterm
WEDNESDAY, May 23, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Vitamin D sustained supplementation is associated with reduced recurrent wheezing among black infants born preterm, according to a study published in the May 22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Anna Maria Hibbs, M.D., from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial enrolling 300 black infants born at 28 to 36 weeks’ gestation. The infants received open-label multivitamins until they were consuming 200 IU/day of cholecalciferol from formula or fortified human milk, after which they were randomized to receive 400 IU/day of cholecalciferol until 6 months of age adjusted for prematurity (sustained supplementation; 153 infants) or placebo (diet-limited supplementation; 147 infants).
The researchers found that 31.1 and 41.8 percent of the infants in the sustained supplementation and diet-limited supplementation groups, respectively, had recurrent wheezing by 12 months’ adjusted age (difference, −10.7 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, −27.4 to −2.9 percent; relative risk, 0.66; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.47 to 0.94). The most commonly reported adverse events were upper respiratory infections, which were experienced by 54.9 and 56.5 percent (difference, −1.6 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, −17.1 to 7 percent) of infants in the sustained and diet-limited supplementation groups, respectively, and lower respiratory infections, which were experienced by 21.6 and 25.2 percent, respectively (difference, −3.6 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, −16.4 to 4.4 percent).
“Future research is needed to better understand the mechanisms and longer-term effects of vitamin D supplementation on wheezing in children born preterm,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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