Saudi pregnancies – only 1 in 16 had even 20 nanograms of vitamin D

Created November 2015

Vitamin D deficiency and dyslipidemia in early pregnancy.

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2015 Nov 26;15(1):314.

Al-Ajlan A1, Krishnaswamy S2, Alokail MS3, Aljohani NJ4, Al-Serehi A5, Sheshah E6, Alshingetti NM7, Fouda M8, Turkistani IZ9, Al-Daghri NM10.

1Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, PO Box 10219, Riyadh, 11433, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. aalajl@hotmail.com.

2Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Biochemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box, 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ksounder@gmail.com.

3Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Biochemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box, 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. msa85@yahoo.co.uk.

4Specialized Diabetes and Endocrine Center, King Fahad Medical City, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, 11525, Saudi Arabia. najij@hotmail.com.

5Maternal-Fetal Medicine Department, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, 59406, Saudi Arabia. aalserehi@kfmc.med.sa.

6Diabetes Care Center, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. eman_shesha@hotmail.com.

7Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. alshingetti@yahoo.com.

8Department of Medicine, Endocrinology Division, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, 12372, Saudi Arabia. monafoudaneel@yahoo.com.

9Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, 12372, Saudi Arabia. iqbalzmt@hotmail.com.

10Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Biochemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box, 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. aldaghri2011@gmail.com.

BACKGROUND:

Vitamin D deficiency is a common nutritional issue and dietary supplementation in the general population, including pregnant women, is generally advised. Appropriately high levels of vitamin D are expected to play a role in containing the glycemic and atherogenic profiles observed in pregnancy. However, the relation between vitamin D status and the lipid metabolic profile in Saudi women, who are known to suffer from chronic vitamin D deficiency and high incidence of obesity and type II DM, during the course of pregnancy is not known.

METHODS:

In this study, we analyzed the relation between serum vitamin D level and various serum metabolic markers among Saudi women (n = 515) in their first trimester of pregnancy (11.2 ± 3.4 weeks). Coefficients of Pearson correlation and Spearman rank correlation were calculated for Gaussian and non-Gaussian variables, respectively. Serum vitamin D status was defined as (in nmol/L): deficient (<25), insufficient (25-50); sufficient (50-75) and desirable (>75).

RESULTS:

Results indicated that vitamin D status was sufficient in only 3.5 % of the study participants and insufficient and deficient in 26.2 % and 68.0 % of participants, respectively. Serum vitamin D values in the overall study population correlated positively with serum levels of total cholesterol (R = 0.172; p < 0.01), triglycerides (R = 0.184; p < 0.01) and corrected calcium (R = 0.141; p < 0.05). In the subgroup of vitamin D deficient subjects (n = 350), log serum vitamin D values correlated with serum triglycerides (R = 0.23; p = 0.002) and cholesterol (R = 0.26; p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS:

The positive correlations between serum vitamin D and the atherogenic factors such as total cholesterol and triglycerides indicate a pro-atherogenic metabolic status in vitamin D deficient expectant mothers. This may represent an adaptation to the high metabolic demands of pregnancy.

PMID: 26610599

Saudi pregnancies – only 1 in 16 had even 20 nanograms of vitamin D

Vitamin D deficiency and dyslipidemia in early pregnancy.

See also VitaminDWiki