Humans ; Vitamin D/therapeutic use* ; Vitamin D Deficiency/therapy*

The etiology and pathogenic mechanism of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are still unclear. The relationship between vitamin D and ASD has drawn attention in recent years due to common vitamin D deficiency in children with ASD. This article reviews the peripheral blood levels of vitamin D in children with ASD, the possible reasons for hypovitamin D and its possible roles in the etiology of ASD and the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in ASD.
Animals ; Autism Spectrum Disorder ; blood ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Vitamin D ; administration & dosage ; blood ; Vitamin D Deficiency ; blood ; drug therapy

Blood Glucose ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/drug therapy* ; Dietary Supplements ; Humans ; Insulin-Secreting Cells ; Vitamin D ; Vitamin D Deficiency

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disease in children and has the clinical manifestations of recurrent abdominal pain with the changes in defecation frequency or stool form. Many studies have shown that children with IBS have a significantly lower vitamin D level than the healthy population, and vitamin D supplementation can significantly improve the clinical symptoms and quality of life of the children, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation may play a role in the treatment of IBS. This article reviews the association between vitamin D and IBS in children and elaborates on the possible mechanism of action of vitamin D.
Abdominal Pain ; Child ; Diarrhea ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome/drug therapy* ; Quality of Life ; Vitamin D ; Vitamin D Deficiency

Child, Preschool ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Rickets ; diagnosis ; etiology ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Vitamin D Deficiency ; complications

Brain ; physiology ; Child ; Dyssomnias ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Sleep ; drug effects ; Vitamin D ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; blood ; Vitamin D Deficiency ; complications ; drug therapy ; epidemiology

PURPOSE: We investigated the changes in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) and the associations with pathologic complete response (pCR) and survival in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured pre- and post-NCT in 374 patients between 2010 and 2013. Based on a cutoff of 20 ng/mL, patients were categorized into “either sufficient” or “both deficient” groups. The associations with clinicopathological data, including pCR and survival, were analyzed using multivariable analyses. RESULTS: Patients with either pre- or post-NCT sufficient 25(OH)D levels accounted for 23.8%, and the overall pCR rate was 25.9%. Most patients showed 25(OH)D deficiency at diagnosis and 65.8% showed decreased serum levels after NCT. Changes in 25(OH)D status were associated with postmenopause status, rural residence, baseline summer examination, and molecular phenotype, but not pCR. No association between survival and 25(OH)D status was found, including in the subgroup analyses based on molecular phenotypes. CONCLUSION: Most Korean patients with breast cancer showed vitamin D deficiency at diagnosis and a significant decrease in the serum concentration after NCT. No association with oncologic outcomes was found. Therefore, although optimal management for vitamin D deficiency is urgent for skeletal health, further research is warranted to clearly determine the prognostic role of vitamin D in patients with breast cancer who are candidates for NCT.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy* ; Humans ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Postmenopause ; Treatment Outcome ; Vitamin D ; Vitamin D Deficiency

BACKGROUND: Bone mineral density (BMD) is influenced by genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors. Long-term antiepileptic drug (AED) use also causes osteopenia or osteoporosis that have been most extensively described in institutionalized patients. But, the mechanism of these abnormalities is unclear. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of AED on bone density and to explain the pathophysiologic mechanisms by analyzing bone related factors. METHODS: We prospectively examined BMD by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 45 patients with epilepsy. We measured the serum calcium, phosphorus, protein, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bone specific ALP, vitamin D and osteocalcin to analyze the factors that influence bone metabolism. RESULTS: BMD was significantly lower in the patient group than in the control group (p<0.05). 13% of patients had osteopenia and 3% of patients had osteoporosis. The level of bone specific ALP was higher in the patient group, but the level of vitamin D was not different, implying that BMD is decreased by the direct effect of antiepileptic drugs. There was a weak negative correlation and marginal significance between BMD and the duration of therapy in the patient group (r=-0.407, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term antiepileptic drug therapy in patients who have seizures causes significant bone loss in the lumbar spine even in the absence of vitamin D deficiency. In addition, the degree of bone mineral density was weakly related with the therapeutic duration of antiepileptic drugs. The regular evaluation of BMD in patients with long-term antiepileptic drugs might be helpful to prevent decreases in BMD.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Anticonvulsants* ; Bone Density* ; Bone Diseases, Metabolic ; Calcium ; Drug Therapy ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Metabolism* ; Osteocalcin ; Osteoporosis ; Phosphorus ; Prospective Studies ; Seizures ; Spine ; Vitamin D ; Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D (vit-D) is essential for bone health, although many osteoporosis patients have low levels of 25-hydroxy-vit-D [25(OH)D]. This randomized, open-label study compared the effects of once weekly alendronate 70 mg containing 5600 IU vit-D3 (ALN/D5600) to alendronate 70 mg without additional vit-D (ALN) on the percent of patients with vit-D insufficiency [25(OH)D <15 ng/mL, primary endpoint] and serum parathyroid hormone (PTH, secondary endpoint) levels in postmenopausal, osteoporotic Korean women. Neuromuscular function was also measured. A total of 268 subjects were randomized. Overall, 35% of patients had vit-D insufficiency at baseline. After 16-weeks, there were fewer patients with vit-D insufficiency in the ALN/D5600 group (1.47%) than in the ALN group (41.67%) (p<0.001). Patients receiving ALN/D5600 compared with ALN were at a significantly decreased risk of vit-D insufficiency [odds ratio=0.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.00-0.08]. In the ALN/D5600 group, significant increases in serum 25(OH)D were observed at weeks 8 (9.60 ng/mL) and 16 (11.41 ng/mL), where as a significant decrease was recorded in the ALN group at week 16 (-1.61 ng/mL). By multiple regression analysis, major determinants of increases in serum 25(OH)D were ALN/D5600 administration, seasonal variation, and baseline 25(OH)D. The least squares mean percent change from baseline in serum PTH in the ALN/D5600 group (8.17%) was lower than that in the ALN group (29.98%) (p=0.0091). There was no significant difference between treatment groups in neuromuscular function. Overall safety was similar between groups. In conclusion, the administration of 5600 IU vit-D in the ALN/D5600 group improved vit-D status and reduced the magnitude of PTH increase without significant side-effects after 16 weeks in Korean osteoporotic patients.
Adult ; Aged ; Alendronate/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; Cholecalciferol/adverse effects/deficiency/*therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal/*drug therapy ; Vitamin D Deficiency/*drug therapy

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been recognized as a significant global health problem because of the increased risk of total and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency is common in patients with CKD, and serum levels of vitamin D appear to have an inverse correlation with kidney function. Growing evidence has indicated that vitamin D deficiency may contribute to deteriorating renal function, as well as increased morbidity and mortality in patients with CKD. Recent studies have suggested that treatment with active vitamin D or its analogues can ameliorate renal injury by reducing fibrosis, apoptosis, and inflammation in animal models; this treatment also decreases proteinuria and mortality in patients with CKD. These renoprotective effects of vitamin D treatment are far beyond its classical role in the maintenance of bone and mineral metabolism, in addition to its pleiotropic effects on extra-mineral metabolism. In this review, we discuss the altered metabolism of vitamin D in kidney disease, and the potential renoprotective mechanisms of vitamin D in experimental and clinical studies. In addition, issues regarding the effects of vitamin D treatment on clinical outcomes are discussed.
Animals ; Biological Markers/blood ; Dietary Supplements ; Humans ; Kidney/drug effects/*metabolism ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/*blood/diagnosis/drug therapy/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Outcome ; Vitamin D/*blood/therapeutic use ; Vitamin D Deficiency/*blood/diagnosis/drug therapy/epidemiology