Vitamin D Deficiency in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Vitamin D plays a role in central nervous system (CNS) development. Recent literature focused on vitamin D status in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but with inconsistent results. Our case-control study is aimed at evaluating serum 25-hydroxyl-vitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration in children with ASD (ASD group, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>54</mml:mn></mml:math>) compared to children affected by other neurological and psychiatric disorders (non-ASD group, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>36</mml:mn></mml:math>). All patients were admitted at the Complex Operative Unit of Child Neuropsychiatry, Polyclinic of Bari, Italy. 25(OH)D was quantified by chemiluminescence immunoassay and level defined as: deficiency (&lt;20 ng/mL); insufficiency (20–30); normality (30-100); toxicity (&gt;100). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS20 (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mtext>significance</mml:mtext><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.05</mml:mn></mml:math>). The ASD group showed 25(OH)D a mean level significantly lower than control (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.014</mml:mn></mml:math>). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed an association between ASD and vitamin D deficiency (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M5"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.006</mml:mn></mml:math>). The nature of such association is unclear. Vitamin D deficiency may probably act as a risk factor for the development of ASD. Further studies are needed to unravel the role of vitamin D in ASD etiology and investigate its therapeutic potential.

Topics & Concepts