Concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D from neonatal dried blood spots and the relation to gestational age, birth weight and Ponderal Index: the D-tect study.

Studies have suggested that vitamin D status at birth may be associated with a range of neonatal outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the association between neonatal 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ (25(OH)D₃) concentration and gestational age, birth weight, Ponderal Index and size for gestational age. Neonatal capillary blood stored as dried blood spots was used to assess 25(OH)D₃ concentrations among 2686 subjects selected from a random population sub-sample of individuals, born in Denmark from 1 May 1981 to 31 December 2002. There was an inverse association between 25(OH)D₃ concentration and gestational age at birth of −0·006 (95 % CI −0·009, −0·003, <italic>P</italic><0·001) weeks of gestation per 1 nmol/l increase in 25(OH)D₃ concentration. An inverted U-shaped association between 25(OH)D₃ and birth weight and Ponderal Index (<italic>P</italic>=0·04) was found, but no association with size for gestational age was shown. This study suggests that neonatal 25(OH)D₃ concentration is associated with anthropometric measures at birth known to be correlated with many subsequent health outcomes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]