Vitamin D deficiency is associated with prediabetes in obese Swedish children

• Published in: Acta Paediatrica Vol. 105; no. 10; pp. 1192 - 1197
• Main Authors: Ekbom, Kerstin, Marcus, Claude
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Norway Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Child; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Glucose homeostasis; Humans; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Metabolic risk markers; Metabolism; Obesity; Paediatric practice; Pediatric Obesity - blood; Pediatric Obesity - complications; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Prediabetic State - blood; Prediabetic State - complications; Prediabetic State - epidemiology; Prospective Studies; Regular; Sweden - epidemiology; Vitamin D; Vitamin D Deficiency - blood; Vitamin D Deficiency - epidemiology; Vitamin D Deficiency - etiology; Vitamin deficiency; Obesity; Paediatric practice; Metabolic risk markers; Vitamin D; Glucose homeostasis
• ISSN: 0803-5253; 1651-2227; 1651-2227
• DOI: 10.1111/apa.13363

Aim Low vitamin D levels have been associated with obesity and living in areas that lack sunshine, such as northern Europe. The aim of this study was to investigate the vitamin D status of a group of obese children in Sweden and to investigate the associations between vitamin D status and markers of glucose metabolism and metabolic risk markers. Methods This was a prospective cross‐sectional study of 202 obese children between 4.5 and 17.9 years of age who had been referred to the National Childhood Obesity Centre at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. We examined age, gender, 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), f‐glucose, f‐insulin and metabolic risk markers. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as less than 30 25(OH)D nmol/L. Children with and without a vitamin D deficiency were compared. Results Just over a third (33.2%) of our study population had vitamin D levels <30 nmol/L 25(OH)D. A significant interaction effect was found between age and 25(OH)D. An association was also found between low 25(OH)D levels and impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG) independent of age and season. Conclusion Low vitamin D levels were common among obese adolescents living in Sweden and were strongly associated with age and associated with a higher risk of IFG.