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Vitamin D deficiency linked to worsening asthma symptoms in children

Category: Vitamin D Deficiency-Diagnosis and Treatment

Parents of children with asthma may want to consider seeking a vitamin D test for their child, as a new study from researchers at Harvard Medical School has found that vitamin D deficiency may exacerbate asthma attacks and result in more frequent hospitalization.

The research, which included more than 1,000 children with asthma, found that 38 percent who had insufficient levels of vitamin D were hospitalized at some point during the course of the four year study, Reuters reports.

Previous studies have shown that vitamin D may play a role in maintaining proper immune system function and reducing inflammation. The researchers speculated that this may be why the nutrient protects against some of the effects of asthma, which is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation in the lungs, according to the news source.

Hospitalization for asthma symptoms can be a serious issue. A total of 444,000 asthma patients visited the hospital last year due to complications from the illness and stayed for more than three days on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.