Introduction: Type 1 Diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is the most common endocrinal disorder of childhood and adolescence, with important consequences for physical and emotional development. Vitamin D has Immunomodulatory properties. Several studies suggest that vitamin D supplementation in early childhood decreases the risk of developing T1DM.
Objective: The aim of this study was to find the association between vitamin D and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) then to study the difference in the level of vitamin D in T1DM and healthy subjects, and to examine the influence of disease characteristics or specific treatment on vitamin D status
Patients and methods: This is a case-control study which was conducted from August 2012 to January 2014 and included fifty patients with T1DM matched with age (2-18years) and gender of fifty apparently healthy controls. Both studied groups were subjected to thorough history, clinical examination and investigations which include random blood sugar and serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) level and mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was done for diabetic group.
Results: our study showed that48% of diabetic and 56% of control were males and their age was 9.25 ± 3.70 year and 8.38 ± 4.26 year for cases and controls respectively. Vitamin D deficiency was more in diabetic compared to control children. There was significant vitamin D deficiency in newly diagnosed diabetes, children with diabetes duration less than 5 years, patients on conventional insulin therapy and those with higher hemoglobin A1c level. There was insignificant effect of age, sex, birth order, consanguinity, family history of diabetes, body mass index and frequency of acute complications or frequency of hospitalizations on vitamin D level in both groups.
Conclusions: vitamin D deficiency and low vitamin D intake are potential risk factors for developing type 1 diabetes and vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in diabetic children especially those newly diagnosed, with high hemoglobin A1c and those on conventional insulin therapy.