Vitamin D requirement in pregnancy - Essay Example

Vitamin D requirement in pregnancy Overview Shakiba and Iranmanesh ed the article, ‘Vitamin D requirement in pregnancy to prevent deficiency inneonates: A randomized trial,’ which the Singapore Medical Journal published in the year 2013. The authors note limited information on the precise level of vitamin D that a pregnant woman require in order to supply her fetus during pregnancy for a threshold vitamin D level in the fetus. They therefore conducted an experiment to establish appropriate vitamin D dosage that women require in order to ensure that their fetuses have at least 20 ng/ml of vitamin D.

Research questionThe researchers did not stipulate their research question but this can be inferred from the article’s title and the study’s objective. The following is the inferred research questions as developed from these perspectives. What is the optical dosage of vitamin D supplementation necessary in pregnant women in order to maintain a minimum serum 25(OH)D level of 20ng.mL?Major pointsThe authors identify limited knowledge on the exact level of vitamin D among pregnant women that is necessary to guarantee sufficiency of the vitamin in the women’s fetuses.

An experimental design was used in the study with 51 participants. Thirty-four of the participants were randomized into groups A and B and were treated with 50000 IU and 100000 IU of vitamin three, respectively, every month from their fourth months of pregnancy. The remaining participants had deficiency of the vitamin and were subjected to 200000 IU treatment of vitamin D before a 50000 IU monthly treatment. Cord blood was tested for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) and values less than 20 ng/mL defines as deficient.

All of the participants had vitamin D deficiency but their fetuses, following supplementation, recorded sufficiency of the vitamin. The results are consistent with previous findings and shows that 50000 IU dosage of vitamin D per month is sufficient to ensure the 20 ng/ml vitamin D level in fetuses. Research methodsSubjects A sample of healthy and pregnant women from Yazd, in the year 2009, is the study’s research participants. TimelineThe study is limited the period of autumn and winter, 2009 with focus on women in their second trimester of pregnancy.

TreatmentVitamin D supplementation was the study’s treatment. Deficiency of the vitamin in women was first noted and then corrected. Supplementation with 50000 IU and 100000 IU of the vitamin for different groups then followed.ProcedureRandom selection was used to recruit the participants and to assign them into groups, for those who had sufficient levels of the vitamin > 20ng/ml. participants with lower levels were first treated for initial boost before the study’s treatment of 50000 IU or 100000 IU of vitamin D.

data was then measured from cord blood. ResultsEven though 34 of the participates had, initially, a vitamin D level > 20 ng/ml, all of the women had levels less than 30ng/ml. Fetuses of women from all of the groups recorded significant levels of vitamin D, greater than 20 ng/ml. Discussion and conclusionThe study shows that 50000 IU of vitamin D per month, from the forth month of pregnant, is necessary for ensuring a threshold level of vitamin D among neonates. The authors conclude that treatment of less than 50000 IU per month is not sufficient to ensure the threshold of 20 ng/ml of vitamin D in neonates.

ReferenceShakiba, M. and Iranmanesh, M. Vitamin D requirement in pregnancy to prevent deficiency in neonates: A randomized trial. Singapore Medical Journal 54(5), 285-288.