Vitamin D and Asthma in Children

An interesting study published recently in the American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine evaluated vitamin D status and its effect on asthma in children with severe treatment-resistant asthma.  Relationships between serum vitamin D, lung function,and pathology were investigated. Vitamin D levels were significantly lower in the treatment-resistant group compared to controls. There was a positive correlation between Vitamin D levels and  lung function and the asthma control test in all subjects. Vitamin D levels were inversely associated with asthma attacks and  dose of inhaled steroid . The link between Vitamin D and airway function suggests that Vitamin D supplementation may be useful in paediatric asthma where levels are deficient or insufficient.  Another study published earlier this year on asthmatic children from Poland demonstrated some interesting trends. Those children who received Vitamin D supplement at a dose 500iu daily as well an inhaled steroid appeared to have better outcomes in terms of asthma control compared to children who received the inhaled steroid alone. However this study size was small and the dose of Vitamin D quite low. Further large scale studies are underway and at the time of writing, routine supplementation with Vitamin D cannot be routinely recommended for improving asthma control