The relationship between the neonatal and maternal vitamin D level at birth in a tertiary hospital in southwest, Nigeria

Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy is increasing in many parts of the world, including tropical countries. The mother is the main source of circulating vitamin D in the neonate; therefore, the maternal vitamin D status is an important determinant of the infant’s vitamin D status. This study determined the relationship between the vitamin D status of the parturient mothers and their term neonates. This was a cross-sectional study of 128 women in labour or at delivery in the labour ward and their term neonates. The serum 25 Hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels of the mother and term neonate cord blood were determined at delivery using the Calbiotech Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). A p-value < 0.05 was statistically significant. Mean maternal 25(OH)D [18.3 (6.9) ng/ml] was lower than the cord blood 25(OH)D [20.5 (8.6) ng/ml], and was statistically significant (paired t-test= -3.601; p < 0.001). Seventy-six (59.4%) mothers and 64 (50.0%) neonates were vitamin D deficient. The association between maternal and cord blood vitamin D was statistically significant ( χ 2 = 21.297; p = 0.001). Overall prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in the mothers and neonates was 86.7% and 76.6%, respectively. The odds of vitamin D deficiency in neonates were 6.12 times higher when mothers were deficient than in the non-deficient, and this was statistically significant (OR = 6.12; 95% CI = 2.78–13.48; p = 0.008). There is a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the parturient mothers and neonates. A community-based studies on the prevalence of maternal-neonatal vitamin D shortfall in the population is required.