Vitamin D Status and Its Association with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Children

Vitamin D is a potent central nervous system(CNS) agent. Different parts of CNS,especially hypothalamus and substantia nigra aretargeted by vitamin D. Vitamin D can affectproduction of neurotrophin agents andneurotransmitters. It can also prevent oxidativestress in neurons. Several diseases such asschizophrenia and multiple sclerosis might beassociated with vitamin D deficiency (Wrzosek etal., 2013). Based on previous studies, a lowvitamin D3 level was associated with attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Bener andKamal, 2013, Goksugur et al., 2014, Shang-Guanand Zhao, 2015). This disorder is aneuropsychiatric disease with a high prevalenceamong children. Boys constitute a large group ofpatients while girls show more intensivesymptoms. Classic symptoms of ADHD includeinattention, hyperactivity, and aggression. Overallprevalence of ADHD is 5.29% among children(Sadock BJ, 2009). This disorder can impose asignificant economic and health burden onsocieties (Doshi et al., 2012). Thus, the aim of thisreview was to overview the role of vitamin D intreating ADHD.