Evaluation of the Effect of Vitamin D on the Length of Hospital Stay in Children with Gastroenteritis Aged ۳ Months to ۱۴ Years Admitted to the Pediatric Hospital of Bandar Abbas

Background: Acute gastroenteritis is one of the major causes of pediatric hospitalization and mortality worldwide. Vitamin D canimprove the immune system, and its deficiency may exacerbate the severe symptoms of any infectious disease. Thus, the aim of thisstudy was to investigate the effect of vitamin D on children admitted to a hospital due to acute gastroenteritis.Methods: In this double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial, ۱۰۰ children aged ۳ months to ۱۴ years old hospitalized due toacute gastroenteritis in Bandar Abbas pediatric hospital, Iran, were enrolled. The participants were divided into two groups of caseand placebo (n = ۵۰ per group). Patients were excluded from the study if they met the exclusion criteria. After obtaining parental(or guardian) consent, in addition to the conventional treatment of gastroenteritis, the placebo group received ۲ cc of olive oil(as placebo) and the cases received ۱۰۰۰۰۰ IU of vitamin D (ZAHRAVI Vit D۳). Discharge criteria included reduction of fever anddefecation and improvement of the patient’s general condition. The required data including age, sex, baseline serum vitamin Dlevel, level of dehydration, axillary temperature, and length of hospital stay were recorded in a checklist by a physician. Descriptivestatistics, chi-square test, and Student’s t-test were used to compare the recorded data in SPSS, version ۲۴.Results: The mean lengths of hospital stay were ۳.۴۶ and ۲.۵۴ days in the placebo and case groups, respectively, indicating a significantdifference between the two groups in this regard (P < ۰.۰۰۱). However, there were no significant age and sex differencesbetween the two groups regarding hospital stay (P = ۰.۰۹ and P = ۰.۱۴). Furthermore, there was no significant relationship betweenlength of hospital stay and the level of dehydration in either group (P = ۰.۱۵). We found that axillary temperature at discharge wassignificantly lower in the vitamin D group than the placebo group (P = ۰.۰۱۷). In general, length of hospital stay was shorter in thevitaminDgroup, and there was no difference between patients with baseline vitaminDlevel of < ۳۰ ng/mL and those with vitaminDlevel of ۳۰ ng/mL in the vitamin D group regarding length of hospital stay (P = ۰.۰۵۷). On the contrary, in placebo group, hospitalstay was significantly longer in those with vitamin D level of < ۳۰ ng/mL (P = ۰.۰۳۹).Conclusions: This prospective study demonstrated that vitamin D supplementation is significantly related to the reduction of hospitalstay in pediatric acute gastroenteritis patients aged ۳ months to ۱۴ years old. This finding was achieved after unification of theconfounding variables such as socioeconomic status. We also noted that the effect of vitamin D on hospital stay was not associatedwith age, sex, and level of dehydration.

Keywords:

Gastroenteritis , Vitamin D , Hospital Stay , Pediatrics