Determining the Relationship Between Maternal and Neonatal Vitamin D Serum Levels in Term Infants  With and Without Sepsis

Mahbod Kaveh; Maryam Noory; Mohammad Kaji  Yazdi; Shima Jeiroodi

Determining the Relationship Between Maternal and Neonatal Vitamin D Serum Levels in Term Infants With and Without Sepsis

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationship between maternal and neonatal vitamin D serum levels in term infants with and without sepsis.
Materials and methods: This is a case-control study with 320 participants which include , 80 mothers and babies with neonatal sepsis and 80 control mothers and babies without neonatal sepsis that included in their quantitative vitamin D levels were compared with each other survey.
Results: Demographic and clinical characteristics of infants (age at admission, gender) and mothers (age, education level) were recorded. Blood samples were taken to check serum vitamin D levels of these babies along with their mothers. Vitamin D levels were classified as deficiency less than 10 ng/ml, moderate deficiency 10-30 ng/ml, mild deficiency 20-30 ng/ml and normal 100-30 ng/ml.33 (41.3%) of the infants born in the neonatal sepsis group and 45 (56.3%) of the control infants were male. Using Fisher’s exact test, no significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of gender distribution, P=0.082. The median age of infants in the neonatal sepsis group was 5 (3-9) days and in the control group was 5 (4-6) days. The mean (age of mothers in the patient group was 29.6 (6.4) years and in the control group was 29.7 (5.6) years. The median range of maternal vitamin D levels in the neonatal sepsis group was 23.8 (15.0-30.0) and 28.6 (17.1-34.0) ng/ml in the control group. According to the Mann-Whitney U statistical test, the vitamin D level of mothers in the neonatal sepsis group was significantly lower than that of the group was the control (p=0.020).
Conclusion: According to the result of the Mann-Whitney U test, the vitamin D level of mothers in the neonatal sepsis group was significantly lower than the control group (P=0.020). Mother’s vitamin D level maybe related to the incidence of neonatal sepsis.

1. Sankar MJ, Agarwal R, Deorari AK, Paul VK. Sepsis in the newborn. Indian J Pediatr. 2008;75(3):261-6.
2. Black RE, Cousens S, Johnson HL, Lawn JE, Rudan I, Bassani DG, et al. Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2010;375(9730):1969-87.
3. Oza S, Lawn JE, Hogan DR, Mathers C, Cousens SN.
Neonatal cause-of-death estimates for the early and late neonatal periods for 194 countries: 2000-2013. Bull World Health Organ. 2015;93(1):19-28.
4. Shane AL, Sanchez PJ, Stoll BJ. Neonatal sepsis. Lancet. 2017;390(10104):1770-80.
5. Schuchat A, Zywicki SS, Dinsmoor MJ, Mercer B, Romaguera J, O’Sullivan MJ, et al. Risk factors and opportunities for prevention of early-onset neonatal sepsis: a multicenter case-control study. Pediatrics. 2000;105(1 Pt 1):21-6.
6. Karras SN, Fakhoury H, Muscogiuri G, Grant WB, van den Ouweland JM, Colao AM, et al. Maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy and neonatal health: evidence to date and clinical implications. Ther Adv Musculoskelet Dis. 2016;8(4):124-35.
7. Puopolo KM, Benitz WE, Zaoutis TE. Management of Neonates Born at ≥35 0/7 Weeks’ Gestation with Suspected or Proven Early-Onset Bacterial Sepsis. Pediatrics. 2018;142(6).
8. Bizzarro MJ, Raskind C, Baltimore RS, Gallagher PG. Seventy-five years of neonatal sepsis at Yale: 1928-2003. Pediatrics. 2005;116(3):595-602.
9. Rosen CJ, Adams JS, Bikle DD, Black DM, Demay MB, Manson JE, et al. The nonskeletal effects of vitamin D: an Endocrine Society scientific statement. Endocr Rev. 2012;33(3):456-92.
10. Holick MF, Binkley NC, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Gordon CM, Hanley DA, Heaney RP, et al. Evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011;96(7):1911-30.
11. Say B, Uras N, Sahin S, Degirmencioglu H, Oguz SS, Canpolat FE. Effects of cord blood vitamin D levels on the risk of neonatal sepsis in premature infants. Korean J Pediatr. 2017;60(8):248-53.
12. Toko EN, Sumba OP, Daud II, Ogolla S, Majiwa M, Krisher JT, et al. Maternal Vitamin D Status and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Children from Rural Western Kenya. Nutrients. 2016;8(12):794.
13. Chen YH, Fu L, Hao JH, Wang H, Zhang C, Tao FB, et al. Influent factors of gestational vitamin D deficiency and its relation to an increased risk of preterm delivery in Chinese population. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):3608
14. Camargo CA, Jr., Ingham T, Wickens K, Thadhani R, Silvers KM, Epton MJ, et al. Cord-blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of respiratory infection, wheezing, and asthma. Pediatrics. 2011;127(1):e180-7.
15. Satar M, Ozlu F. Neonatal sepsis: a continuing disease burden. Turk J Pediatr. 2012;54(5):449-57.
16. Uday K, Ashwin K, Srinivas G. Association between vitamin D levels and early onset sepsis in infants: A prospective observational study. Int J Contemp Pediatr. 2016;3(4):1189-92.
17. Gamal TS, Madiha AS, Hanan MK, Abdel-Azeem ME, Marian GS. Neonatal and Maternal 25-OH Vitamin D Serum Levels in Neonates with Early-Onset Sepsis. Children (Basel). 2017;4(5).
18. Tayel SI, Soliman SE, Elsayed HM. Vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D receptor variants in mothers and their neonates are risk factors for neonatal sepsis. Steroids. 2018;134:37-42.
19. Cizmeci MN, Kanburoglu MK, Akelma AZ, Ayyildiz A, Kutukoglu I, Malli DD, et al. Cord-blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of early-onset neonatal sepsis: a case-control study from a tertiary care center in Turkey. Eur J Pediatr. 2015;174(6): 809-15.
20. Cetinkaya M, Cekmez F, Buyukkale G, Erener-Ercan T, Demir F, Tunc T, et al. Lower vitamin D levels are associated with increased risk of early-onset neonatal sepsis in term infants. J Perinatol: official journal of the California Perinatal Association. 2015;35(1):39-45.
21. Ratzinger F, Haslacher H, Stadlberger M, Schmidt RL, Obermuller M, Schmetterer KG, et al. 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)D vitamin D fails to predict sepsis and mortality in a prospective cohort study. Sci Rep. 2017;7:40646.
22. Seliem M S, Abdel Haie O M, Mansour A I, Salama SSME. The relation between vitamin D level and increased risk for early-onset neonatal sepsis in full-term infants. Medical Research Journal. 2016;15(1):16-21.
23. Dhandai R, Jajoo M, Singh A, Mandal A, Jain R. Association of vitamin D deficiency with an increased risk of late-onset neonatal sepsis. Paediatr Int Child Health. 2018;38(3):193-7.
24. Ozdemir AA, Cag Y. Neonatal Vitamin D status and the risk of neonatal sepsis. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(2).
25. Marshall I, Mehta R, Ayers C, Dhumal S, Petrova A. Prevalence and risk factors for vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency at birth and associated outcome. BMC Pediatr. 2016;16(1):208.
26. Khalessi N, Kalani M, Araghi M, Farahani Z. The Relationship between Maternal Vitamin D Deficiency and Low Birth Weight Neonates. J Family Reprod Health. 2015;9(3):113-7.

Files	XML PDF (267KB)
Issue	Vol 19, No 1 (March 2025)
Section	Original Articles
Keywords
Vitamin D Sepsis Neonatal Term Infants

Rights and permissions
	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Kaveh M, Noory M, Kaji Yazdi M, Jeiroodi S. Determining the Relationship Between Maternal and Neonatal Vitamin D Serum Levels in Term Infants With and Without Sepsis. J Family Reprod Health. 2025;19(1):14-18.

Download Citation