Ethnic and seasonal variations in blood spot vitamin D at birth
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What is the prevalence and ethnic and seasonal variation of vitamin D deficiency on blood spot screening in newborns in the UK?
IRAS ID
245670
Contact name
Suma Uday
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
Background: Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is common in the UK given the geographic location. Long standing VDD can cause bone disease called rickets and soteomalacia in children and osteomalacia in adults. VDD in infants can have devastating consequences such as seizures and heart failure secondary to low calcium. The Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups in the UK are at increased risk as dark skin produces far less vitamin D than white skin. VDD can be easily prevented by supplementation in high risk individuals, i.e. babies, pregnant women and dark skinned individuals. Despite existing supplementation policies for pregnant women and children, rickets is widely prevalent in the UK due to: 1) poor implementation of policies and 2) lack of compulsory fortification of food with vitamin D.
Primary aim: To determine the frequency of low vitamin D [25 hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD)] levels in newborn babies.
Secondary aims: 1) To determine the variations in vitamin D levels based on ethnicity (white vs BAME) and season (spring vs autumn). 2) To study the association between vitamin D levels and birth weight, socio-economic status, mother’s age and geographic location.
Methods: All babies have heel prick blood taken on day 5-7 of life to screen for common treatable medical conditions. The remaining sample can be utilised for research anonymously (without identifying the child/mother) after ethics and newborn screening research advisory committee approvals. 25OHD will be measured on 3000 anonymised blood spot samples received at Birmingham Children’s Hospital; one week each at the end of spring and autumn (1500 samples/week). Samples will be anonymised by lab manager and the following data provided to research team: Age, gestation, Ethnic group, surrogate markers of socio-economic status and geographic location such as IMD score and LSOA obtained using post-code (http://imd-by- postcode.opendatacommunities.org/), birth weight, mother’s age and transfusion status.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0019
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jan 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion