vitamin d status in neonates with congenital heart disease: its changes after heart surgery and relationship to the outcome

Background & objective: vitamin d deficiency has been implicated in a wide range of conditions such as infectious and autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, and various malignancies to unfavorable birth outcomes. we studied vitamin d status in a group of neonates with congenital heart disease (chd) and its relationship with the outcome of heart surgery. materials & methods: total vitamin d levels in plasma were measured before and 24 hours after the operation in 45 neonates with chd undergoing heart surgery and in 77 hospitalized neonates without a history of chd as controls, at children’s medical center between march and september 2018. results: preoperative vitamin d levels in patients with chd were not significantly different from the control group (42.4 +/- 18.0 versus 46.9 +/- 27.7 nmol/l, p=0.640). patients’ vitamin d levels decreased postoperatively (42.4 +/- 18.0 versus 36.2 +/- 14.5 nmol/l, p=0.013). this decline was significant in the cyanotic and open-heart surgery groups, but not in non-cyanotic or closed-heart surgery groups. in 41 (91.1%) patients, the outcome was successful discharge from the hospital, in 3 (6.7%), the outcome was demise, and in one, it was not determined due to early discharge. preoperative and postoperative vitamin d levels did not show any relationship with the outcome. however, logistic regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between the amount of postoperative decline in vitamin d levels and the outcome of death (or=1.261, 95% ci=1.026-1.551, p=0.028). conclusion: results corroborates previous findings and suggests the amount of postoperative decline in vitamin d levels as a predictor of the outcome of heart surgery in chd.