Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Vitamin D Levels of Term and Preterm Neonates and their Mothers: A Clinical Trial Study

Background: vitamin d deficiency is a worldwide issue and the effect of vitamin d supplementation alone as a possible option to prevent that is still under examination. therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of vitamin d supplementation on term and preterm neonates and mothers for 4 months. materials and methods in this clinical trial, 30 term neonates and 30 preterm neonates along with their mothers created a total of 120 participants who were referred to the maternity unit of vali-e-asr hospital in birjand, iran, in 2018. neonates and mothers were supplemented with vitamin d supplementation of 400 iu/day and 50,000 iu/month of vitamin d drops and tablets, respectively. serum vitamin d levels of mothers and infants were measured during delivery, birth and after 4 months using elisa method. p<0.05 was considered as a significant level. results: the level of vitamin d in term and preterm neonates was 24.53±10.93 and 41.30±12.87, 19.45±8.88 and 43.78±15.51 ng/ml at birth and at 4 months of age, respectively. there was a significant difference between the mean level of vitamin d at birth and 4 months later in both infants and mothers (p<0.001). there was also a significant positive correlation between vitamin d levels of mothers during labor and neonates at birth (p<0.001). conclusion although vitamin d deficiency was high, regular consumption of vitamin d supplements has a significant effect on vitamin d levels and could increase the level of vitamin d to the normal levels, particularly in neonates.