maternal and neonatal vitamin d deficiency associated with an increased risk of neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy

Background: neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (hie) remains a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. neonates are at a significantly high risk of vitamin d deficiency. maternal and neonatal vitamin d deficiency is associated with multiple neonatal diseases including hie. this study aims to explore the possible association between maternal and neonatal 25-hydroxy vitamin d (25-ohd) levels and hie in full-term infants and it attempts to find whether there is any relationship between vitamin d level and the clinical severity of hie.methods: this case-control study included 25 full-term neonates with hie and their mothers along with 25 healthy neonates and their mothers. the level of serum (25-ohd) of the infants and their mothers was measured in the first 6 postnatal hours of the infants by isotope dilution ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. the severity of hie was assessed depending on the clinical scoring system. results: neonatal and maternal levels (25-ohd) were significantly lower in the study group compared with those of the control group. neonatal (25-ohd) levels were significantly lower with increasing severity of hie (p=0.005), but they did not follow the same order in the maternal (25-ohd) levels (p=0.96); i.e., a negative correlation was detected between neonatal (25-ohd) level and severity of hie (r = − 0.66, p < 0.001). a positive correlation was found between neonatal and maternal (25-ohd) levels in the study group (r = 0.697, p < 0.001). conclusion: lower maternal and neonatal vitamin d levels were associated with hie in full-term infants and the level of vitamin d was inversely associated with the clinical severity of hie. further studies are needed to examine the causal relationship between vitamin d deficiency and hie in neonates.