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Fetal vitamin D concentration and growth, adiposity and neurodevelopment during infancy

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 72, pages 1396–1403 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

To determine the association between cord blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration with growth, adiposity and neurodevelopment during infancy.

Subjects/methods

Serum 25(OH)D was measured in cord blood by the liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) from the Shanghai’s “Allergy and Obesity Cohort study” (n = 1244). Weight, length, head circumference, and body mass index (BMI) z-scores for age were calculated based on World Health Organization Standard (at 6 months, 1 years, and 2 years). Neurodevelopment was measured at 2 years using Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Generalized estimating equation and multivariable logistic regression model were exploited to examine associations between fetal 25(OH)D concentration and offspring outcomes.

Results

The median of the 25(OH)D concentration in cord blood was 22.4 ng/ml (interquartile range, 27.3–8.6). Infants born in winter had lower 25(OH)D concentration. 25(OH)D deficiency was not associated with weight z-score (mean difference, 0.07; 95% confidence internal (CI), −0.09 to 0.23), length z-score (mean difference, 0.01; 95% CI, −0.19 to 0.21), head circumference z-score (mean difference, −0.06; 95% CI, −0.27 to 0.15) and BMI z-score (mean difference, 0.09; 95% CI, −0.07 to 0.25) or neurodevelopment during infancy, adjusting for sex, socio-economic position, pre-pregnancy maternal BMI, and maternal and neonatal characteristics. The associations did not vary by gender. A sensitivity analysis of available case analysis showed virtually the same results.

Conclusions

Fetal vitamin D concentration was not associated with growth, adiposity or neurodevelopment during infancy. The role of vitamin D concentration and its mechanistic pathway in the early origins of adiposity needs to be clarified.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues at Xinhua Hospital and the International Peace Maternal and Child health Hospital for their assistance and collaboration. Funding sources: This work was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (No.81373004; No. 81372954; No. 81673178) and the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (14XD1403300).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children’s Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200092, China

    H Wang, X. D Yu, Q Chen, F. X Ouyang, X Wang & J Zhang

  2. The Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200127, China

    X. D Yu

  3. The Department of Pediatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200092, China

    L. S Huang

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  1. H Wang
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Contributions

HW and XDY preformed the literature review, accomplished the statistical analysis and wrote the drafted of the manuscript. LSH, QC, FXO, and XW contributed to analysis of the data, revise the paper critically. Zhang is the guarantor. He developed the hypothesis in the study, guided the strategy in the analysis procedure and supervised the draft of the paper. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.

Funding

The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J Zhang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

H Wang and X.D Yu contributed equally to this work.

Electronic supplementary material

Appendix Table 1 Characteristics of respondents (n=723) and non-respondents (n=519) of cohort (available case analysis)

41430_2017_75_MOESM2_ESM.docx

Appendix table 2 Association between umbilical cord blood 25(OH)D concentration and growth during infancy using complete analysis

41430_2017_75_MOESM3_ESM.docx

Appendix Table 3 Association between umbilical cord blood 25(OH)D concentration and neurodevelopment infants at 2 years using complete data

Appendix table 4 Association between cord blood 25(OH)D and growth and adiposity during infancy (n=723)

Appendix table 5 Association between cord blood 25(OH)D and neurodevelopment infants at 2 years (n=552)

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Wang, H., Yu, X.D., Huang, L.S. et al. Fetal vitamin D concentration and growth, adiposity and neurodevelopment during infancy. Eur J Clin Nutr 72, 1396–1403 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-017-0075-9

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