the vitamin d level in umbilical cord blood in premature infants with or without intra-ventricular hemorrhage: a cross-sectional study

Background: intra-ventricular hemorrhage (ivh) is acute cerebral complications of premature infants which may lead to the long-term problems. objective: according to the role of vitamin d in the stability of the blood vessels, the present study was carried out in order to compare the vitamin d level in the premature infants with or without ivh. materials and methods: this cross-sectional study was carried out on 180 premature infants in the ghaem hospital, mashhad, iran 97 infants without ivh (53.9%) and 83 with ivh (46.1%) through convenience sampling technique in 2015-2017. serum vitamin d level of funiculus in the two groups was compared. a researcher made questionnaire was used which includes infants’ personal and laboratory information; and their mother's information. results: seventy nine percent of infants suffered from vitamin d deficiency in which 33.9% had a severe deficiency (less than 10 ng/ml), 30% moderate deficiency (10.1-20 ng/ml), 15% slight deficiency (20.1-30 ng/ml) and 21.1% had normal vitamin d (>30.1 ng/ml). vitamin d mean±sd of infants in the control group, 23.71±12.98 ng/ml and case group 15.92±10.27 ng/ml (p<0.001). in total 92.8% of infants with ivh had levels of vitamin d below30 ng/ml, while this rate was 67% in infants without ivh. conclusion: vitamin d deficiency in the premature infants is very common. also, the serum vitamin d level in infants with ivh was less than infants without ivh. therefore, the recommendation of vitamin d may be effective in the prevention of neonatal ivh.