Vitamin D levels among pediatric tuberculosis patients - Does it alter following antitubercular treatment? A prospective study in 19 children.

OBJECTIVES: It is still unknown whether altered vitamin D levels observed with osteoarticular tuberculosis change during treatment in a child or modify the disease course. To find a possible answer to the above query, we investigated serial serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D concentrations in children suffering from osteoarticular tuberculosis treated with multidrug antitubercular drugs.

METHODS: The prospective study enrolled 19 untreated immunocompetent children with an established diagnosis of osteoarticular tuberculosis. None of the patients were offered any therapeutic vitamin D supplementation at initiation or during the treatment. The patients were followed for response to multidrug antitubercular therapy (DOTS) at 2 months interval. Mean values of vitamin D were calculated at 0, 2, and 6 months and statistically compared. The following laboratory references for defining the vitamin D status were used: <30 nmol/L = deficiency; 30-75 nmol/L = insufficiency; >75 nmol/L = sufficiency.

RESULTS: All the patients responded to antitubercular therapy. Out of the enrolled children, 73.67% had low vitamin D levels at initial presentation. There was no statistically significant difference in vitamin D levels in affected children at either 0-2 ( p  = 0.452), 2-6 ( p  = 0.240), or 0-6 months ( p  = 0.854) following antitubercular treatment. Although the mean vitamin D levels were higher in male patients when compared to female patients at all times, there was no statistically significant difference in vitamin D levels during treatment stages in either sex.

CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D levels were low at initiation of treatment and did not significantly improve during multidrug antitubercular treatment. Further, tuberculosis healed well with antitubercular therapy despite persistence of low serum levels of vitamin D.