Background: Vitamin D has the capability to regulate both the adaptive & innate immune systems, which contributes to its immunological & anti-inflammatory properties ,additionally there is evidence of significant declines in circulating 25(OH)D concentrations in critical illness. Aim: Our study aimed to evaluate vitamin D status in critically ill children. Patients & methods: This case-control research was performed on 30 children with critical illness admitted to the ICU of Pediatric of El-Salam Port-Said General Hospital in addition to 30 healthy children as control group. Results: statistically significant lesser serum 25(OH)D level was noted in the patient group in relative to control one (p=.007). The vitamin D shortage status is statistically significantly greater in patients group in comparison to control group (p=.014). Vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/ml) is statistically significantly greater in patients group in comparison to the control group (p=.0004). vitamin D sufficiency (≥ 30 ng/ml) is statistically significantly lesser in patients group in comparison to control group (p=.0450). No statistically significant variance was noted in diagnosis amongst the three vitamin D status categories in the patients' group (p=0.278)
Conclusion: There is a significant prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency among children admitted to PICU in our study sample. The serum 25(OH)D level in PICU admitted kids was considerably lower compared to the control group