CDC Targets Vitamin D in Preventing Childhood Asthma

October 5, 2009 by Cathy Ribble
Filed under: Baby Health, News, Pregnancy

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has identified asthma as the most common chronic childhood illness. A five-year research study has been launched among pregnant women to determine whether Vitamin D supplements will prevent children from developing asthma. The Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDARRT) is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

According to recent studies, Vitamin D plays some role in developing an infant’s lungs during the later part of pregnancy. Children have an increased risk of beig born with asthma if one or both parents have asthma. Researchers want to determine if the correction of Vitamin D levels prior to or during the pregnancy will lower the rates of asthma in children.

Recent studies have shown that fortification of food and multivitamin intake has not prevented Vitamin D deficiency in children and adults. Although most pregnant women take prenatal vitamins, pregnant women are at high risk for Vitamin D deficiency. That risk extends to lactating women and the children they breastfeed.

The lead investigator of the trial, Robert C. Strunk, M.D., wants to know if simply supplementing Vitamin D during pregnancy could impact children’s health by decreasing the prevalence of asthma. Dr. Strunk is a Washington University pediatric asthma and allergy specialist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

The study targets 870 women nationwide between 10-18 weeks of pregnancy. The women will be randomly divided into groups. One group will receive a standard prenatal vitamin containing 400 units of Vitamin D while the other group will receive the same prenatal vitamin and a 4,000-unit vitamin D supplement. Participants will continue regular obstretrician visits. Blood and urine samples will be collected, and questionnaires will be completed concerning diet, sunlight exposure, medications and other matters. The children born will be evaluated at ages 1, 2, and 3 for asthma signs and recurrent wheezing.

Members of the collaborating team on this project include Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Boston University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, as well as Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, located in San Diego.