European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Background: To determine the impact of vitamin D status on the susceptibility and severity of pneumonia in children of age 1 month to 5 years.
Materials and Methods: This case control study was conducted from September 2020 to September2022 in children admitted to Pediatric Care Intensive Unit (PICU) Mamata Academy of Medical Sciences Hospital.Out of total 150 study participants, 75 children with new onset pneumonia were taken as cases and 75 healthy children who were matched for age and sex were taken as controls. All children with pneumonia were admitted and categorized  according to Revised WHO (2014) guidelines .Serum vitamin D levels were sent. As per recent Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) recommendations, Serum Vitamin D levels < 12ng/dl were taken as deficient levels, 12-20ng/dl as insufficient levels and > 20ng/dl as sufficiency level¹.
Results: Our study showed a correlation between hypovitaminosis D and pneumonia. We found that hypovitaminosis D was significantly associated with pneumonia compared to healthy controls and we also found that all cases with severe pneumonia had significantly lower vitamin D levels than healthy controls.
Conclusions: In our study, we conclude children with lower vitamin D levels are at increased risk for acquiring pneumonia and also are at increased risk of developing severe pneumonia. We conclude to consider vitamin D supplementation in children younger than 5 years to reduce the risk of acquiring pneumonia, although larger RCTs are required to support this