association of 25-hydroxyvitamin d deficiency in pediatric epilepsy: a study from tertiary care center

objective: epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder requiring long term therapy using antiepileptic medications. reports have incriminated long term antiepileptic drugs use in deficiency of vitamin d and bone diseases in all age groups. to investigate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d levels and pediatric epilepsy in indian patients.           methods& methods: we prospectively recruited 100 pediatric epilepsy patients, on monotherapy for minimum one year duration, and 50 age and sex matched controls. this study was carried out at yashoda hospital, india. study period was between january 2011 and december 2014. all cases and controls underwent tests for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d, alkaline phosphatase, serum calcium and phosphorus levels. results: patients with 25-hydroxyvitamin d deficiency were significantly higher among cases (45%) than controls (24%) (p<0.0001). mean alkaline phosphatase was significantly higher in cases (p<0.0001) and mean serum calcium was significantly lower (8.3±1.5) in cases (p=0.01). amongst antiepileptic drugs, carbamazepine (p=0.04) and sodium valproate (p=0.01) were significantly associated with 25-hydroxyvitamin d deficiency. risk of vitamin d deficiency was highest with sodium valproate usage (odds:4.0;95%ci 1.4-11.6) followed by carbamazepine use (odds: 2.7; 95%ci 1.0-6.8). after adjustment using multiple logistic regression, antiepileptic drugs showed independent association with 25-hydroxyvitamin d deficiency (odds:2.2;95%ci 0.9-4.5).  conclusion: our study established that 25-hydroxyvitamin d deficiency was significantly associated with use of carbamazepine and sodium valproate in pediatric epilepsy.