Vitamin D toxicity in a pediatric toxicological referral center; a cross-sectional study from Iran
BMC Pediatrics volume 20, Article number: 350 (2020)
Fariba Farnaghi, Hossein Hassanian-Moghaddam, Nasim Zamani, Narges Gholami, Latif Gachkar & Maryam Hosseini Yazdi
- Some children in Iran accidentally took an average of 500,000 IU of Vitamin D in a single day
- Only one of the 15 of the 15 children became hypercalcemic
- That single case of hypercalcemia was treated by extra water for 6 hours
- US Comparison: Of the 25,397 human exposures to excess vitamin D in 2000–2014, only 0.02% had health problems (morbidity) and none died.
All iItems in both categories Infant-child and Toxicity are listed here:
- Vitamin D toxicity is extremely rare, accidental, and very mild in Iranian children – July 2020
- Infant hospitalized after Vitamin D overdose (8,000 X too much) Feb 2016
- Rare infant vitamin D toxicity – due to errors which resulted in more that 240,000 IU – Jan 2014
- Concern about accidentally giving infant too much liquid vitamin D – Aug 2012
- Dosing error gave 12000 IU vitamin D to infant, but no indication of any problem – April 2012
- CYP24A1 gene mutation is a cause of rare infant vitamin D toxicity – Aug 2011
Download the PDF from Vitamin D Life
Background
Vitamin D is an essential element for body health with its supplements generally administered to prevent vitamin D deficiency. Since these supplements are available in domestic settings, vitamin D toxicity may happen in children.
Methods
All children younger than 12 years who presented to the pediatric emergency department of Loghman Hakim Hospital, Tehran, Iran with history of ingestion of more than 1500 IU/day of vitamin D supplements were enrolled. Patients’ demographic data, on-presentation signs and symptoms, laboratory findings, treatments given, and outcome were evaluated.
Result
Fifteen patients presented during the study period. Their mean age was 46.53 ± 10.14 months and 12 (80%) were girls. All of them had unintentionally ingested vitamin D. Mean ingested dose was 406700.7 ± 227400.1 IU. In eight patients (53.3%), 25 hydroxy vitamin D level was more than 100 ng/mL. One patient experienced hypercalcemia while all of them were asymptomatic and discharged without complications. There was no significant difference between patients with and without high levels of 25 OH vitamin D regarding lab tests, toxicity course, and outcome.
Conclusions
It seems that acute vitamin D toxicity is a benign condition in our pediatric population which may be due to high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Iran.