A Review on the Relation between Sepsis and Vitamin D Level among Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Infants

Neonatal sepsis is a critical condition caused by a generalized bacterial infection in the first month of life. the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin d levels and neonatal sepsis. materials and methods: a search of online databases (medline, cochrane library, web of science, embase-ovid, and scopus) were carried out for randomized control trials and non-randomized prospective or retrospective clinical studies published in english till april 2020. two reviewers selected the studies. results: in the first study, the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin d [25(oh)d] in the cord-blood sample of infants in the early-onset neonatal sepsis (eons) group was significantly lower compared to the control group. 25(oh)d level (19 ng/ml) in the control group were significantly higher compared to the 25(oh) level (8.6 ng/ml) in the sepsis group. in the third study, the serum 25(oh) level showed a significant decrease in the affected neonates (6.4 nmol/l) compared to healthy neonates (42.5 nmol/l). in the fourth study, the sepsis and control group had a significant difference in the level of 25(oh)d (69±7.5ng/ml and 35±19ng/ml). according to the fifth study, the serum 25(oh)d level was insufficient in the case group and sufficient in the control group (p<0.0001). in the sixth study, the odds of very-early-onset neonatal sepsis among the neonates who had the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d deficiency were lower compared to the odds among neonates who did not have serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d deficiency. conclusion the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin d in the blood sample of infants in the sepsis group was significantly lower compared to the control group; further studies required to confirm the results by considering more confounders