Long-term effects of vitamin D on exacerbation rate, health care utilization and lung function in children with asthma

BACKGROUND: Asthma exacerbations lead to unplanned health care utilization and reduced lung function in children. Sufficient vitamin D level has been found to have a short-term protective effect against asthma exacerbation in children. However, it is unclear whether this effect remains in the long term. We evaluated the long-term effects of vitamin D levels on the occurrence of asthma exacerbations, emergency department visits or hospitalizations, and lung function among children with asthma, and further investigated the temporal trends of the effects. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, children with asthma who were admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from 2017 to 2021 were enrolled. Negative binomial, Poisson, or logistic regression model was used for the multivariable analysis, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index z-score, and severity of asthma exacerbation. RESULTS: Of the 370 children with asthma, 87.8% had vitamin D level less than or equal to 30 ng/mL. After adjustment for confounding factors, higher baseline vitamin D levels in asthma children were significantly associated with reduced occurrence of asthma exacerbations during the first [odds ratio 0.842, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.805–0.881; P<0.001], second (odds ratio 0.848, 95% CI: 0.793–0.907; P<0.001) and third years (odds ratio 0.865, 95% CI: 0.811–0.922; P<0.001) of follow-up. Higher vitamin D levels in asthmatic children were also strongly associated with a reduced number of emergency department visits or hospitalizations during the first (odds ratio 0.880, 95% CI: 0.842–0.920; P<0.001), second (odds ratio 0.885, 95% CI: 0.832–0.941; P<0.001), and third years (odds ratio 0.922, 95% CI: 0.851–0.998; P=0.044) of follow-up. In addition, the vitamin D levels in asthmatic children were found to be negatively associated with the odds of large airway dysfunction (odds ratio 0.865, 95% CI: 0.771–0.970; P=0.013) and small airway dysfunction (odds ratio 0.922, 95% CI: 0.855–0.996; P=0.038) during the first year of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Sufficient vitamin D level is associated with lower risk of asthma exacerbations and health care utilization over a 3-year period, and improved lung function over 1 year. The protective effects of vitamin D on asthmatic children decreased over time.