Associations between Vitamin D and Liver Function and Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Biliary Atresia

Peijun Zhuang; Song Sun; Rui Dong; Gong Chen; Yanlei Huang; Shan Zheng

doi:10.1155/2019/4621372

Associations between Vitamin D and Liver Function and Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Biliary Atresia

Gastroenterol Res Pract. 2019 Nov 3:2019:4621372. doi: 10.1155/2019/4621372. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Peijun Zhuang¹, Song Sun¹, Rui Dong¹, Gong Chen¹, Yanlei Huang¹, Shan Zheng¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Pediatric Hepatobiliary Surgery, Children's Hospital of Fudan University and Key Laboratory of Neonatal Disease, Ministry of Health, 399 Wan Yuan Road, Shanghai 201102, China.

Abstract

Objectives: To detail the effects of vitamin D (VD) deficiency and assess the relationships between VD deficiency and liver function and liver fibrosis in patients with biliary atresia (BA).

Methods: In this study, BA patients confirmed by intraoperative cholangiography were enrolled between January 2017 and February 2019. Preoperative serum 25-(OH)D level, liver function, serum biomarker levels of liver fibrosis, and histopathologic features were recorded. Deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency of VD were defined as serum 25-(OH)D concentrations of <10, 10-20, and >20 ng/ml, respectively. Associations between serum 25-(OH)D level and liver function and liver fibrosis were analyzed.

Results: A total of 161 BA infants were included. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) serum 25-(OH)D level in all patients was 7.56 (IQR: 4.48-11.40) ng/ml. The rates of 25-(OH)D deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency were 67.1% (108/161), 29.2% (47/161), and 3.7% (6/161), respectively. Serum 25-(OH)D level was negatively correlated with alkaline phosphatase (r = -0.232, P = 0.003). After adjusting for age, a decrease in serum 25-(OH)D level was correlated with the increase of the Batts-Ludwig stage score (odds ratio (OR): 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.88-0.99; P = 0.028). Serum 25-(OH)D level was also correlated with the N-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP) (r = -0.246, P = 0.002). Additionally, PIIINP (P = 0.038) and ALP (P = 0.031) were independently associated with serum 25-(OH)D level.

Conclusions: VD deficiency was common and inversely correlated with liver fibrosis in BA patients. Furthermore, VD was not correlated with liver function except alkaline phosphatase.