Vitamin D status during pregnancy: maternal, fetal, and postnatal outcomes

• Published in: Current opinion in obstetrics & gynecology Vol. 23; no. 6; p. 422
• Main Author: Dror, Daphna K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.12.2011
• Subjects: Diabetes, Gestational - blood; Diabetes, Gestational - epidemiology; Diabetes, Gestational - etiology; Female; Fetal Blood - metabolism; Fetal Development; Humans; Infant, Low Birth Weight; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Small for Gestational Age; Nutritional Status; Pre-Eclampsia - blood; Pre-Eclampsia - epidemiology; Pre-Eclampsia - etiology; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Outcome; Vitamin D - blood; Vitamin D Deficiency - blood; Vitamin D Deficiency - complications; Vitamin D Deficiency - epidemiology
• ISSN: 1473-656X
• DOI: 10.1097/GCO.0b013e32834cb791

To consider evidence from recent studies linking maternal vitamin D status during pregnancy with maternal, fetal, and postnatal outcomes. Several studies have demonstrated an association between poor maternal vitamin D status and severe preeclampsia, though results are inconsistent and cannot be generalized to nonsevere preeclampsia. Pregnant women with gestational diabetes, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, and periodontal disease had lower vitamin D status at mid-gestation or delivery compared with controls. Maternal vitamin D status early in pregnancy was associated with risk of low birth weight and small-for-gestational age infants in one study, whereas another study found this relation only among white women. Polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor gene may contribute to vitamin D-related disparities in fetal growth. Evidence from recent studies suggests an early prenatal influence of maternal vitamin D status on fetal skeletal development, with lasting postnatal effects. Cord blood vitamin D status was associated with tolerogenic immune regulation and fewer respiratory infections in the newborn. Recent evidence supports a role of maternal vitamin D status, particularly early in pregnancy, in modulating the risk of pregnancy complications and in sustaining fetal growth, bone development, and immune maturation.