The Effect of Vitamin D Administration During Pregnancy on Neonatal Anthropometric Results and Apgar Score

This study aims to determine the effects of vitamin D administration throughout pregnancy on the level of vitamin D in cord blood, neonatal anthropometric measurements, and Apgar score.

This study was designed as a retrospective analytic study. The intervention group comprised 40 pregnant women who were prescribed vitamin D supplementation during their pregnancy, according to the recommendations of the Turkish Ministry of Health General Directorate of Mother and Child Health and Family Planning (MCHFP) and their infants, while the control group comprised 40 pregnant women without vitamin D supplementation and their infants. After exclusion criteria were applied, a total of 60 pregnant women and their babies (28 with supplementation, 32 without) were included in the final analyses.

Final analyses were conducted on 28 pregnant women and their infants as the intervention group and 32 pregnant women and their infants as the control group. The cord blood vitamin D values of the intervention group were significantly higher compared to controls (X2 = 25.71, P = 0.000). Vitamin D use throughout the pregnancy was observed to significantly increase vitamin D levels in the cord blood compared to those without supplementation. Vitamin D levels were categorized as normal in the cord blood of 53.6% of the pregnant women using vitamin D and 3.1% of the pregnant women not using vitamin D. However, there was no difference between the two groups in terms of neonatal anthropometric measurements and Apgar scores.

Although cord blood 25(OH) vitamin D levels were significantly higher in the intervention group, there was no difference in neonatal outcomes. The fact that cord blood vitamin D levels were lower than 30 ng/mL in all samples suggests that the adequacy of the vitamin D supplementation recommended by TR Ministry of Health MCHFP during pregnancy should be discussed.