International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics | March-April 2018 | Vol 5 | Issue 2 Page 520 International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics Karanam S et al. Int J Contemp Pediatr. 2018 Mar;5(2):520-525 http://www.ijpediatrics.com pISSN 2349-3283 | eISSN 2349-3291 Original Research Article Vitamin D status in asthmatic children and its correlation to asthma control Sandeep Karanam, Soumya Reddy*, Ramesh H. INTRODUCTION Asthma is a common disease, affecting an estimated 330 million individuals worldwide with a reported prevalence of 5-20% in children aged between 6-15yrs. 1,2 Like many other chronic disorders, childhood asthma is likely to have an impact on the social and emotional aspects of lives of children and their families. In addition, there may be considerable financial burden on families. It also reduces the quality of life of children as it leads to growth retardation, inability to exercise and nocturnal bouts of wheezing resulting in loss of sleep that may impair daytime concentration at school. Bronchial Asthma is defined as a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways associated with increased airway hyper-responsiveness, recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing, particularly at night/early morning. Airway inflammation produces airflow limitation through acute bronchoconstriction, chronic mucus plug formation ABSTRACT Background: Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, affecting around 330 million individuals worldwide. Factors like genetic predisposition, early allergen exposure, diet and vitamin D status are all proposed to influence the development and severity of asthma. Epidemiologic data suggests that low serum vitamin D (<30 ng/mL) in children with asthma is associated with more symptoms and exacerbations. The objectives of this study were to determine serum levels of vitamin D in asthmatic children (6-15 years) and to establish a relation between serum vitamin D levels and asthma control. Methods: We conducted a cross sectional observational study. A total of 60 children with asthma were studied to know the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and asthma control, assessed according to Global Initiative for Asthma guidelines (GINA). Results: Only 33.33% of children had sufficient vitamin D levels. Mean±SD vitamin D level of study population was 23.38±8.75. 45% children had well controlled asthma, 28.3% were partly controlled and 26.7% were uncontrolled. Significant (p <0.001) inverse association was found between level of asthma control and vitamin D status. Significant positive correlation was found between percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity (P <0.01). Subjects with well controlled asthma had higher serum levels of 25 (OH) D than children with partially controlled or uncontrolled asthma. Conclusions: Hypovitaminosis D is frequent in children with asthma and is associated with exacerbations, decreased lung functions and severe disease. Keywords: Asthma, Asthma control, Hypovitaminosis D, Vitamin D Department of Paediatrics, JJM Medical College, Davangere, Karnataka, India Received: 15 December 2017 Accepted: 19 January 2018 *Correspondence: Dr. Soumya Reddy, E-mail: sr2390@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-3291.ijcp20180547