association between maternal and neonatal serum vitamin d levels and the incidence of early-onset sepsis

Background: early-onset neonatal sepsis (eos) is a systemic infection that occurs within the first week of life. objectives: this study investigated the association of serum vitamindlevels in pregnantwomenand their neonates with the prevalence of eos. methods: this case-control study was performedamong50 term/late pre-term neonates admitted to our nicu due to eos, alongside 50 healthy neonates matched for gestational age range and sex. maternal and neonatal serum vitamin d levels were measured. the criteria for diagnosing eos included any/combination of: respiratory, cardiovascular, hemodynamic, neurological, gastrointestinal, body temperature, or metabolic signs. for sepsis cases, cbc, crp, blood type, blood culture, chest x ray, and in some cases, and csf analysis and culture were tested. mothers’ clinical history was collected. results: each group included 30 (60%) male and 20 (40%) female neonates. birth weight averages were 2772667 and 3215349 grams in the case and control groups, respectively (p < 0.001). the mean serum vitamin d levels were 49.7525.53 and 56.4118.17 nmol/l in the case and control groups, respectively. the control group mothers had a significantly higher vitamin d level (68.24 nmol/l versus 55.01 in mothers of sepsis cases, p = 0.005) and showed a correlation with the vitamin d levels of their neonates (r = 0.731, p < 0.001), while the data failed to show a correlation between vitamin d level in mothers and their neonates in the sepsis group (r = 0.241, p = 0.115). c-section delivery was more prevalent among the sepsis cases (p < 0.001). conclusions: early-onset neonatal sepsis is associated with vitamin d deficiency in neonates and their mothers, low birth weight, and being delivered by c-section.