BACKGROUND Subjects with atopic dermatitis (AD) have defects in antimicrobial peptide (AMP) production possibly contributing to an increased risk of infections. In laboratory models, vitamin D can alter innate immunity by increasing AMP production. OBJECTIVE To determine if AD severity correlates with baseline vitamin D levels, and to test whether supplementation with oral vitamin D alters AM...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D is an important micronutrient for health. Hypovitaminosis D is thought to play a role in the seasonality of a number of diseases and adverse health conditions. To refine hypotheses about the links between vitamin D and seasonal diseases, good estimates of the cyclicality of serum vitamin D are necessary. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study is to describe quantitatively...

BACKGROUND Discharge destination after critical illness is increasingly recognized as a valuable patient-centered outcome. Recently, vitamin D status has been shown to be associated with important outcomes such as length of stay (LOS) and mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Our goal was to investigate whether vitamin D status on ICU admission is associated with discharge destinatio...

OBJECTIVE The increasing incidence of thyroid nodules demands identification of risk factors for malignant disease. Several studies suggested the association of higher TSH levels with cancer, but influence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) is controversial. This study aimed to identify the relationship of thyroid cancer with higher TSH levels and hypovitaminosis D and to evaluate their influence o...

CONTEXT Public health authorities around the world recommend widely variable supplementation strategies for adults, whereas several professional organizations, including The Endocrine Society, recommend higher supplementation. METHODS We analyzed published randomized controlled clinical trials to define the optimal intake or vitamin D status for bone and extraskeletal health. CONCLUSIONS Th...

BACKGROUND Trials in school-aged children suggest vitamin D supplementation reduces asthma exacerbations. Primary aim: to examine whether vitamin D3 (100,000 IU) rapidly raises serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) ≥75 nmol/L in asthmatic preschoolers. METHODS In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, preschool-aged children with asthma received 100,000 IU vitamin D3 (intervention)...

To study the effects of acute and chronic cholestasis on vitamin D metabolism we investigated six cases of acute extrahepatic obstructive jaundice and eight cases of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) (three supplemented with vitamin D). Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) was low in the patients with PBC unsupplemented with vitamin D but normal in obstructive jaundice. None of the patients with PB...

OBJECTIVE The in utero environment plays an important role in shaping development and later life health of the fetus. It has been shown that maternal genetic factors in the metabolic pathway of vitamin D associate with type 1 diabetes in the child. In this study we analyzed the genetic determinants of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentration during pregnancy in mothers whose children lat...

BACKGROUND Results from epidemiologic studies on the relationship between vitamin D and breast cancer risk are inconclusive. It is possible that vitamin D may be effective in reducing risk only of specific subtypes due to disease heterogeneity. METHODS AND FINDINGS In case-control and case-series analyses, we examined serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) in relation to breast c...

CONTEXT Vitamin D is essential for bone health in adolescence, when there is rapid bone mineral content accrual. Because cutaneous sun exposure provides vitamin D, there is no recommended oral intake for UK adolescents. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to assess seasonal vitamin D status and its contributors in white Caucasian adolescents and examine bone health in those found deficient. DESIGN ...