Association between serum vitamin d levels and allergic markers with childhood asthma

Background: Vitamin D has been implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma by virtue of its role in keeping the bronchial epithelium and musculature healthy. Deficiency of Vitamin D has been linked with the increased incidence and severity of childhood asthma.
Objectives: This pilot case control study was done with an aim to find out the association between serum Vitamin D levels and allergic markers (IgE and Absolute eosinophil count) among asthmatic children in comparison with controls. Another objective was to find out the association between Vitamin D deficiency with severity of childhood asthma.
Methods: A case control study was done in which children between 4-12 years suffering from different grades of asthma were enrolled as cases with equal number of controls. Serum Vitamin D, IgE and absolute eosinophil count were measured among both the groups and descriptive analysis of the data was done.
Results: Median Vitamin D levels were significantly lower among asthmatic children (p value - 0.004) than control population while allergic markers were significantly high among asthmatics. However Vitamin D levels didn’t fluctuate much among asthmatic children when analyzed according to the severity of asthma (p value 0.783).
Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency may have association with increased incidence of childhood asthma but its role in the severity of the disease still remains obscure.