Maternal serum vitamin D levels in pregnancies complicated by neural tube defects
The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, Posted online on December 29, 2014. (doi:10.3109/14767058.2014.999037)
Korkut Daglar, Aytekin Tokmak, Ayse Kirbas, Ali Irfan Guzel, Kudret Erkenekli, Aykan Yucel, and Dilek Uygur
Dr. Zekai Tahir Burak Women’s Health Research and Education Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
Address for correspondence: Dr Aytekin Tokmak, Zekai Tahir Burak Women’s Health Research and Education Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. E-mail: aytekintokmak at gmail.com
Women in Turkey have low levels of vitamin D
6 ng pregnant with NTD
9 ng normal (they also had higher serum Calcium)
See also VitaminDWiki
Turkey has yet not learned to GIVE vitamin D DURING pregnancy (5 ng average) – May 2014
33 percent of pregnant women in Turkey had undetectable vitamin D levels – May 2011
Neural tube defects of pregnant mice reduced by Vitamin D (perhaps less Folate needed) – April 2015
Objective: The association between vitamin D deficiency and abnormal neural development has been proposed previously. We aimed to evaluate maternal serum vitamin D levels in pregnancies complicated by neural tube defects (NTDs) and compared them with healthy pregnant women.
Methods: A total of 60 pregnant women were included in this controlled cross-sectional study. Thirty of the patients whose pregnancies were complicated by meningocele, meningomyelocele, encephalocele, anencephaly and fetal acrania constituted the study group, whereas 30 normal pregnant women constituted the control group. The main parameters recorded for each woman were as follows: age, body mass index (BMI), gestational week (GW), gravidity, abortion, co-morbidities, dressing style, consumption of milk and dairy products and serum levels of 25(OH)VitD3, calcium, albumin and total protein.
Results: The mean maternal serum 25(OH)VitD3 level was 6.2 ± 5.0 ng/ml in the study group and 9.1 ± 7.3 ng/ml in the control group (p: 0.071). The mean maternal serum calcium level was statistically significantly higher in the control group, and calcium-rich dietary intake was also more common in this group (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of age, BMI, GW, dressing style and serum levels of albumin and total protein.
Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency is common among pregnant women, and maternal serum calcium levels were lower in pregnancies complicated by NTD than healthy pregnant women. Larger further studies are required to evaluate the effects of calcium-rich dietary sources or vitamin D and calcium in the development of NTDs.