Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a respiratory dysfunction caused by poor lung bronchial development, which may lead to long-term lung disease, threatening the lives of children. Studies have shown that premature infants with low vitamin D are highly associated with BPD. In this study, we aim to obtain insights into whether early vitamin D supplementation could prevent BPD in preterm infants.
Methods: A total of 112 preterm infants were randomly divided into two groups: the control and vitamin D supplementation (VD) group. The VD group received vitamin D (800 IU/day) within 48 h at birth for consecutively 28 days. The serum levels of 25(OH)D3 and C-reactive protein (CRP), IL6, and TNF-α were measured using ELISA assay. The arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2 ) and carbon dioxide (PaCO2 ) was measured using an i-STAT analyzer.
Results: The occurrence of BPD was decreased in the VD group compared with the control. The decreased serum 25(OH)D3 was significantly elevated by supplementation with vitamin D. In addition, the serum inflammation factors (CRP, IL6, and TNF-α) were significantly reduced by vitamin D supplementation.
Conclusion: We demonstrated that early vitamin D supplementation could significantly reduce BPD incidence in preterm infants. We showed that early vitamin D supplementation could significantly increase serum level of 25(OH)D3 and reduce inflammatory response thereby preventing and reducing neonatal BPD.
Limitation: Firstly, a larger sample size will be needed to be included to gain a comprehensive understanding of the protective effects of vitamin D and BPD mechanistically in preterm infants. Secondly, the pathophysiological process of BPD will need to be studied. In addition, the pathways that vitamin D is responsible for, need to be further researched.
Keywords: bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD); preterm infants; vitamin D.
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