Afshan Mehboob Khan, Khalid Mehmood Ahmed Khan, Khatidja Pardhan, Abdul Shakoor Memon.
Comparison of Serum Levels of Vitamin D with Asthma Severity in Children in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi.
Ann Jinnah Sindh Med Uni Jan ;2(2):44-7.

••Objective: The purpose of this study is to measure the serum vitamin D level in asthmatic children and to compare this level with severity of asthma. Methods: A total number of 44 subjects (aged between 6-14 years) of both gender were included in this study. The study was carried out from October 2014 to April 2015. Subjects were diagnosed asthmatic patients according to GINA guideline. A written and verbal consent was taken from the subject’s guardians after explaining about the study. Subject’s physical parameters included age, sex, body mass index, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1st sec (FEV1) and FEV1/FVC ratio.Serum 25(OH)D was tested by Vitamin D ELISA kit and pulmonary function test( spirometry) by spirometer. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 19. Results: A total number of 44 asthmatic children (26 boys and 18 girls) were recruited for the study. Mean age of subjects was 10.06±2.23 years. Median BMI was 10th percentile .Mild persistent asthmatics were 11 while moderate persistent asthmatic children were 33. Out of 44 ,36 (81.81%) cases had insufficient and 8 (18.2%) had deficient levels of vitamin D. The comparison of insufficient and deficient levels of serum vitamin D with severity of asthma showed that 11 (100%) mild persistent asthmatic children had insufficient level of vitamin D. No case of deficient level of vitamin D was found in this asthmatic group. 25 (75.75%) moderate persistent asthmatic children had insufficient levels of vitamin D and 8 (24.24%) children had deficient levels in this group. we did the comparison of pulmonary function test in asthmatics with insufficient and deficient vitamin D levels. We found significantly low FEV1 (0.85L) in asthmatics with deficient vitamin D level than asthmatics with insufficient vitamin D level (1.20L) (p< 0.05). Conclusion: In our study, it was revealed that hypovitaminosis D is much more prevalent in asthmatic children. Comparison between different categories of asthma showed that serum vitamin D level was decreased with severity of asthma. Key words: Asthma, Vitamin D, asthmatic children, spirometry.

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