Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kersey, Margaret
• Chi, Ming
• B Cutts, Diana

Titel

Anaemia, lead poisoning and vitamin D deficiency in low-income children: do current screening recommendations match the burden of illness?

Ist Teil von

• Public health nutrition, 2011-08, Vol.14 (8), p.1424-1428

Ort / Verlag

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2011

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Objective Low-income children are routinely screened for anaemia and elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) but not for vitamin D deficiency. We sought to determine the relative prevalence of and the relationship among vitamin D deficiency, anaemia and EBLL among healthy low-income paediatric clinic patients. Design Retrospective chart review. Setting Paediatric outpatient clinic in an urban safety net hospital in a northern US state. Subjects Healthy toddlers and children under 6 years of age (n 127) who were seen for a routine well child check-up (WCC). Results The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) < 30 ng/ml) was 62 %; the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (25(OH)D < 20 ng/ml) was 29 %. These rates were far higher than those for anaemia (Hb < 11·0 g/dl) at 10 %, EBLL (Pb > 9 μg/dl) at 1 % or even mildly EBLL (Pb 5–9 μg/dl) at 4 % (range: 1–11). There was no relationship among any of the following: vitamin D status, anaemia or EBLL. The vast majority of children with vitamin D deficiency had both normal Hb (86 %) and Pb level (100 %). After controlling for child's age, gender and race/ethnicity, there was no association between Hb (continuous, g/dl) and vitamin D deficiency (adjusted OR (aOR) = 0·97, 95 % CI 0·64, 1·47; P = 0·88). The only significant predictor of vitamin D deficiency was increasing age in years (aOR = 1·39, 95 % CI 1·03, 1·86; P = 0·03). None of these associations changed materially when deficiency was defined as <15 ng/ml. Conclusions Vitamin D deficiency was far more common than anaemia or EBLL, and Hb and Pb status were not predictors of vitamin D status.