PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

Vitamin D supplementation among Bangladeshi children under-five years of age hospitalised for severe pneumonia: A randomised placebo controlled trial.

  • Fahmida Chowdhury,
  • Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayeem Bin Shahid,
  • Mosharrat Tabassum,
  • Irin Parvin,
  • Probir Kumar Ghosh,
  • Mohammad Iqbal Hossain,
  • Nur Haque Alam,
  • A S G Faruque,
  • Sayeeda Huq,
  • Lubaba Shahrin,
  • Nusrat Homaira,
  • Zakiul Hassan,
  • Zubair Akhtar,
  • S Mah-E-Muneer,
  • George J Fuchs,
  • Tahmeed Ahmed,
  • Mohammod Jobayer Chisti

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246460
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 2
p. e0246460

Abstract

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IntroductionVitamin D is important for its immunomodulatory role and there is an independent association between vitamin D deficiency and pneumonia. We assessed the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the outcome in children hospitalized for severe pneumonia.MethodsThis was a randomised, double blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial in children aged >2-59 months with severe pneumonia attending Dhaka Hospital, icddr,b. Children received age-specific megadose of vitamin D3 (20,000IU: FindingsWe enrolled 100 children in placebo group and 97 in vitamin D group. On admission, 50 (52%) and 49 (49%) of children in vitamin D and placebo groups, respectively were vitamin D deficient. Among children with a sufficient serum vitamin D level on admission, a lower trend for duration of resolution of severe pneumonia in hours [72(IQR:44-96)vs. 88(IQR:48-132);p = 0.07] and duration of hospital stay in days [4(IQR:3-5)vs.5(IQR:4-7);P = 0.09] was observed in vitamin D group compared to placebo. No beneficial effect was observed in vitamin D deficient group or irrespective of vitamin D status.ConclusionAge-specific mega dose of vitamin D followed by a maintenance dose shown to have no statistical difference between the two intervention groups, however there was a trend of reduction of time to recovery from pneumonia and overall duration of hospital stay in under-five children with a sufficient serum vitamin D level on hospital admission.