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Vitamin D levels in a paediatric population of normal weight and obese subjects

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Abstract

Background

Vitamin D exerts pleiotropic effects and few studies are available in the Italian population.

Aim

Aim of our study was to evaluate vitamin D status in children living in Northern Italy.

Methods

We studied vitamin D levels in a population of 113 normal weight (NW) and 444 obese (OB) children, prepubertal and pubertal. We considered vitamin D levels >20 ng/ml as normal, but also measured percentage of children with vitamin D levels higher than a cutoff of 30 ng/ml.

Results

68.2 % of NW children showed normal levels of vitamin D, while 31.8 % showed a clear vitamin D deficiency. Only 28.3 % showed vitamin D levels higher than 30 ng/ml. Obese children showed 55.6 % of subjects with normal levels of vitamin D and 44.4 % of subjects a status of vitamin D deficiency. Only the 18.9 % showed vitamin D levels higher than 30 ng/ml. Mean vitamin D levels in NW children (27.3 ± 1.2 ng/ml) were higher than in OB children (21.8 ± 0.6 ng/ml). No differences have been found between prepubertal and pubertal children in terms of vitamin D levels.

Conclusions

Our paediatric population demonstrates a low percentage of vitamin D sufficiency. In particular, obese children show only 19 % of subjects with normal levels while almost half of this population shows a clear deficiency. Further studies are needed to support these results and to evaluate the possible metabolic consequences.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Regione Piemonte (Ricerca Sanitaria Finalizzata 2008, Grant no. 2827).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatrics, Department of Health Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”, Via Solaroli 17, 28100, Novara, Italy

    S. Bellone, S. Esposito, E. Giglione, G. Genoni, C. Fiorito, A. Petri, G. Bona & F. Prodam

  2. Endocrinology, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”, Via Solaroli 17, 28100, Novara, Italy

    S. Bellone & F. Prodam

  3. Interdisciplinary Center for Obesity Study (ICOS), University of Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”, Via Solaroli 17, 28100, Novara, Italy

    S. Bellone, G. Bona & F. Prodam

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  1. S. Bellone
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  2. S. Esposito
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  3. E. Giglione
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  4. G. Genoni
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  7. G. Bona
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  8. F. Prodam
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Correspondence to G. Genoni.

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Bellone, S., Esposito, S., Giglione, E. et al. Vitamin D levels in a paediatric population of normal weight and obese subjects. J Endocrinol Invest 37, 805–809 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-014-0108-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-014-0108-3

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