Endocrinology in pregnancy: influence of maternal vitamin D status on obstetric outcomes and the foetal skeleton

• Main Authors: Moon, R.J (Author), Harvey, N. (Author), Cooper, C. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015-04-10.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext; Get fulltext; Get fulltext; Get fulltext; Get fulltext; Get fulltext; Get fulltext

 Vitamin D status is increasingly associated with wide ranging clinical outcomes. There is now a wealth of observational studies reporting on its associations with obstetric complications, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and mode and timing of delivery. The findings are inconsistent and currently there is a lack of data from high quality intervention studies to confirm a causal role for vitamin D in these outcomes. This is similarly true with regards to fetal development, including measures of fetal size and skeletal mineralisation. Overall, there is an indication of possible benefits of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy for offspring birthweight, calcium concentrations and bone mass, and for reduced maternal pre-eclampsia. However, for none of these outcomes is the current evidence base conclusive, and the available data justify the instatement of high-quality randomised placebo controlled trials in a range of populations and health care settings to establish potential efficacy and safety of vitamin D supplementation to improve particular outcomes.