Rapid vs Maintenance Vitamin D Supplementation in Deficient Children With Asthma to Prevent Exacerbations.

Rapid vs Maintenance Vitamin D Supplementation in Deficient Children With Asthma to Prevent Exacerbations.

Rapid vs Maintenance Vitamin D Supplementation in Deficient Children With Asthma to Prevent Exacerbations

The role of vitamin D in respiratory health remains uncertain. Whether vitamin D reduces clinically important exacerbations of childhood asthma remains uncertain. We compared rapid to maintenance vitamin D repletion analyzed by baseline vitamin D level.

Recently published Cochrane metaanalysis suggested that vitamin D reduces the risk of severe asthma exacerbations, but only 22 children contributed to that analysis from a study that found no difference in acute care visits or rescue steroid administration. Altogether, randomized trials performed in children show promise solely in meta-analyses that use varied clinical outcomes and analysis approaches. Were vitamin D supplementation beneficial for children with asthma, it might prevent moderate to severe asthma exacerbations entirely in some children, reduce the overall frequency of exacerbations in a treated group, or both. To examine these possibilities, we designed a randomized explanatory study comparing rapid vs maintenance vitamin D supplementation for children with moderate-to-severe asthma and with low baseline vitamin D levels . Children presenting to the ED with moderate-to-severe asthma exacerbations and vitamin D levels < 25 ng/mL underwent masked randomization, and then open dosing to either IM+oral (the latter daily) therapy or daily oral-only therapy, and were followed for 12 months.The primary outcome was patient-initiated unplanned visits for asthma exacerbations,examined two ways: cumulative proportions with an exacerbation, and average exacerbation frequency. As this was a nutrient study, we analyzed treatment groups by quartile of baseline vitamin D level, collecting repeat levels and clinical observations at 3, 6, 9,and 12 months after enrollment. One hundred and sixteen patients in the IM+oral cohort vs 115 in the oral-only cohort had similar mean (SD) baseline levels: 15.1 (5.4) vs 15.8 (5.2) ng/mL (range, 3-25 ng/mL). There was no difference in the primary outcome over the entire 12-month observation period. However, rapid IM+oral supplementation significantly reduced unplanned visits for asthma exacerbations for children with baseline levels of 3 to 11 ng/mL during the initial 3 months: the relative exacerbation rate for the IM+oral cohort compared with the oral-only cohort at 3 months was 0.48 (95% CI, 0.28-0.89; P ¼ .008); average exacerbation frequency per child analysis, relative rate 0.36 (95% CI, 0.13-0.87; P ¼ .017). So Rapid compared to maintenance vitamin D supplementation for children with the lowest levels resulted in short- but not long-term reduction in asthma exacerbations.

Children with moderate-to-severe asthma exacerbations and vitamin D levels < 25 ng/mL underwent masked randomization, and then open dosing to either IM+oral (the latter daily) therapy or daily oral-only therapy, and were followed for 12 months.

Rapid compared to maintenance oral supplementation with vitamin D significantly reduced unplanned visits for asthma exacerbations for children with baseline levels of 3 to 11 ng/mL during the initial 3 months of treatment but not thereafter.

Daily symptom burden differ in slow versus rapid vitamin D deficiency correction in patients with moderate to severe asthma

Rapid compared to maintenance vitamin D supplementation for children with the lowest levels resulted in short- but not long-term reduction in asthma exacerbations.

Inclusion Criteria: Children 2-14 years of age with moderate to severe asthma and proved to be Vitamin D deficient by serum level. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Prematurity (Gestational age 34 weeks or less) Patients on vitamin D therapy Patients on seizure medication or diuretics Patients on chronic steroid use for other reasons than asthma Patient with chronic liver or kidney disease Patients with inherited bone disease Patients with hypo or hyper parathyroidism Patients with history of chronic lung disease other than asthma