2000 to 2014 saw increase in vitamin D deficiency in children

(HealthDay)—From 2000 to 2014 there was an increase in the rate of vitamin D deficiency diagnosis among children, according to a study published online Feb. 3 in Pediatrics.

Emre Basatemur, M.B.B.S., from the Institute of Child Health at University College London, and colleagues conducted a cohort study using primary care records of 711,788 children aged 0 to 17 years to examine the incidence rates for diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency every year from 2000 to 2014.

The researchers found that from 2000 to 2014 there was an increase in the crude rate of vitamin D deficiency diagnosis from 3.14 to 261 per 100,000 person-years. Between 2008 and 2014 there was a 15-fold increase in diagnosis after accounting for changes in demographic characteristics. There were independent associations between older age (≥10 years), nonwhite ethnicity, and social deprivation and higher rates of diagnosis. Diagnosis rates were higher in boys versus girls aged <5 years, while rates were higher in girls aged ≥10 years.

"There has been a marked increase in diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency in children over the past decade," the authors write. "Future research should explore the drivers for this change in diagnostic behavior and the reasons prompting investigation of vitamin D status in clinical practice."