Low maternal vitamin D may raise risk for ADHD in offspring

(HealthDay)—There is an association between low maternal vitamin D during early pregnancy and an elevated risk for offspring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Minna Sucksdorff, M.D., from University of Turku in Finland, and colleagues examined the association between maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels in early pregnancy and offspring ADHD. The analysis included 1,067 ADHD cases born between 1998 and 1999 and 1,067 matched controls. First-trimester maternal 25(OH)D serum levels were assessed using quantitative immunoassay.

The researchers observed a significant association between decreasing log-transformed maternal 25(OH)D levels and offspring ADHD in unadjusted analyses (odds ratio [OR], 1.65) and in the analyses adjusting for maternal socioeconomic status and age (OR, 1.45). ADHD risk was higher for the lowest versus highest quintile of maternal 25(OH)D levels (adjusted OR, 1.53).

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