Vitamin D Deficiency and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis in Children and Adolescents: a Critical Vitamin D Level for This Association?
Olcay Evliyaoğlu1, Manolya Acar1, Bahar Özcabı1, Ethem Erginöz2, Feride Bucak1, Oya Ercan1, Mine Kucur31İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty Of Medicine, Department Of Pediatric Endocrinology, İstanbul, Turkey2İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty Of Medicine, Department Of Public Health, İstanbul, Turkey
3İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty Of Medicine, Department Of Biochemistry, İstanbul, Turkey
Objective: Vitamin D has been suggested to be active as an immunomodulator in autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). The goal of the present study was to investigate the vitamin D status in HT patients.
Methods: This prevalence case-control study was conducted on 90 patients with HT (of ages 12.32±2.87 years) and 79 age-matched healthy controls (11.85±2.28 years). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] levels were measured in all 169 subjects.
Results: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in HT patients (64 of 90; 71.1%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (41 of 79; 51.9%) (p=0.025). Mean serum 25(OH)D3 level in the HT group was significantly lower compared to the control group (16.67±11.65 vs. 20.99±9.86 ng/mL, p=0.001). HT was observed 2.28 times more frequently in individuals with 25(OH)D3 levels <20 ng/mL (OR: 2.28, CI: 1.21-4.3).
Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is associated with HT in children and adolescents. Levels lower than 20 ng/mL seem to be critical. The mechanism for this association is not clear.
Manuscript Language: English
