Maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy and risk of asthma and wheeze in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Abstract

Aims: To summarize the relationship between vitamin D and infant asthma or wheeze.

Materials and methods: We used PubMed and Embase to search articles through July 2017 with selection criteria for relevant studies. Random-effect models were used to pool the results of included studies.

Results: Ten articles with 14 independent reports of 2073 incident cases of asthma and 1875 cases of wheeze among 23 030 pairs of mother and child were included in our meta-analysis. Compared to those who did not take vitamin D, the mothers who had vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy stage could reduce the risk of asthma or wheeze in infants. The combined odds ratio of infant wheeze was 0.65 (95% CI = 0.54–0.79) and asthma was 0.78 (95% CI = 0.69–0.89). The results almost did not change in the subgroup analyses.

Conclusions: It suggests that increasing maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy might have a protective effect on suffering from wheeze and asthma for children.

Keywords:

• Asthma
• meta-analysis
• pregnancy
• vitamin D
• wheeze

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2016YFC1303903). The funder did not play any role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; nor in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.