Vitamin D profile in autism spectrum disorder children and its relation to the disease severity

• Published in: The Egyptian journal of otolaryngology Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 7 - 5
• Main Authors: Mansour, Amira, Amer, Ayman, Sobh, Ali, Zaki, Maysaa, Abou-Elsaad, Tamer
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2024; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Age; Alfacalcidol; Antibodies; Autism; Autism spectrum disorder; Autistic children; Calcifediol; Communication; DSM5 severity levels; Immunology; Language; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Original Article; Pervasive developmental disorders; Risk factors; Surgery; Vitamin D; Vitamin deficiency; Egypt; Iraq; Vitamin D; DSM5 severity levels; Autism spectrum disorder
• ISSN: 2090-8539; 1012-5574; 2090-8539
• DOI: 10.1186/s43163-024-00573-w

Background
The study aimed to investigate whether vitamin D deficiency is a common finding in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children and whether such deficiency is related to ASD severity and language age or not.
Methods
A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on ASD children aged 2-6 years. The participants were 80 Egyptian children with ASD. All participants were assessed using DSM-V, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), language assessment, and assessment of serum vitamin D using ADVIA Centaur Vit D assay.
Results
About 63.8% of ASD children have vitamin D insufficiency, 28.8 % have vitamin D deficiency, and 7.4% have normal serum levels. No correlation was found between serum vitamin D and language age (r = -0.085,
P
= 0.451), DSM 5 severity levels (r = 0.015
,
P
= 0.894), and CARS scores (r= 0.075,
P
= 0.511).
Conclusion
ASD children have lower serum vitamin D levels, which may be one of the environmental factors contributing to ASD development in genetically susceptible individuals, and its correction may be helpful as adjuvant therapy for ASD.