Vitamin D Status in Neonatal Pulmonary Infections: Relationship to Inflammatory Indicators

Ghada M El-Kassas; Maged A El Wakeel; Mona A Elabd; Alyaa H Kamhawy; Mohamed Abdel Atti; Shereen A Abd El-Gaffar; Salwa Kamal Hanafy; Eman Awadallah

doi:10.3889/oamjms.2019.592

Vitamin D Status in Neonatal Pulmonary Infections: Relationship to Inflammatory Indicators

Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2019 Dec 14;7(23):3970-3974. doi: 10.3889/oamjms.2019.592. eCollection 2019 Dec 15.

Authors

Ghada M El-Kassas¹, Maged A El Wakeel¹, Mona A Elabd¹, Alyaa H Kamhawy¹, Mohamed Abdel Atti¹, Shereen A Abd El-Gaffar², Salwa Kamal Hanafy³, Eman Awadallah⁴

Affiliations

¹ Child Health Department, Medical Division, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.
² Pediatric Department, Banha Teaching Hospital, Banha, Egypt.
³ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, El-Galaa Maternity Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Aim: The study aimed to evaluate serum vitamin D concentrations among neonates with pneumonia.

Methods: This case-control study enrolled 33 neonates with pneumonia in addition to 30 healthy controls. CBC, CRP, Serum vitamin D and Pentraxin 3 levels were measured for all participants.

Results: There was significant difference between patients and controls regarding Hemoglobin levels, TLC and CRP (p value < 0.01, = 0.002, < 0.01 respectively). Patients with pneumonia showed significant lower levels of Vit. D (9 ± 2.1) compared to controls (14.1 ± 2.8), P value < 0.01. However, patient group had significant higher levels of Pentraxin 3 (29.1 ± 4.8) compared with controls (12.6 ± 3), P value < 0.01. Moreover, mechanically ventilated patients revealed significant lower vit D (7.7 ± 1.8) and higher pentraxin 3 (32.2 ± 2.6) compared to patients on free oxygen (9.1 ± 2.1, 26.4 ± 3.7 respectively), P value = 0.05, 0.02 respectively. Regarding hospital stay, it had significant positive correlation with serum pentraxin 3 (r = 0.6, P value < 0.01) and significant negative correlation with serum vit D (r = -0.4, P value = 0.04). Finally a significant negative correlation between serum levels of vitamin D and Pentraxin 3 was found (r = -0.4, P value = 0.01).

Conclusion: Lower concentration of serum vitamin D may be significantly associated with neonatal pneumonia. It also can predict the need for mechanical ventilation and duration of hospital stay in neonatal pneumonia. Similarly, higher levels of Pentraxin 3 may be used as an indicator for mechanical ventilation need and a longer hospital stay in neonates with pneumonia.

Keywords: Neonates; Pentraxin 3; Pneumonia; Vitamin D.