Iron and vitamin D levels among autism spectrum disorders children
Ann Afr Med, 2017 Vol 16, Issue : 4, age : 186-191, online 16-Oct-2017, DOI: 10.4103/aam.aam_17_17
- Overview Autism and vitamin D
- Overview Iron Supplements and Vitamin D
- Micronutrients (such as Vitamin D) needed during pregnancy – May 2016
- Low vitamin D - anemia 2.2X more likely (no surprise) – meta-analysis Aug 2015
- Iron and Vitamin D deficiencies are synergistic - April 2015
- Anemia in pregnant teens 7X more likely if low vitamin D – April 2015
- Deficiencies of Vitamin D, Iron, Magnesium, and Zinc all associated with ADHD – Sept 2014
- Overview Magnesium and vitamin D
Note: Increasing either Iron or Magnesium increases Vitamin D levels
Download the PDF from Vitamin D Life
Abdulbari Bener1, Azhar O Khattab2, Dinesh Bhugra3, Georg F Hoffmann4
- 1 Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey; Department of Evidence for Population Health Unit, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, England, UK
- 2 Department of Pediatrics, Rumailah and Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation; Department of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar
- 3 Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Cultural Psychiatry, King's College London, London, England, UK
- 4 Department of Pediatrics, University of Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate iron deficiency anemia and Vitamin D deficiency among autism children and to assess the importance of risk factors (determinants).
Subjects and Methods: This was a case–control study conducted among children suffering from autism at the Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar. A total of 308 cases and equal number of controls were enrolled. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic was the instrument used for diagnosis of Autism.
Results: The mean age (±standard deviation, in years) for autistic versus control children was 5.39 ± 1.66 versus 5.62 ± 1.81, respectively. The mean value of serum iron levels in autistic children was severely reduced and significantly lower than in control children (74.13 ± 21.61 μg/dL with a median 74 in autistic children 87.59 ± 23.36 μg/dL in controls) (P = 0.003). Similarly, the study revealed that Vitamin D deficiency was considerably more common among autistic children (18.79 ± 8.35 ng/mL) as compared to healthy children (22.18 ± 9.00 ng/mL) (P = 0.004).
Finally, mean values of
- hemoglobin,
- ferritin,
- magnesium;
- potassium,
- calcium;
- phosphorous;
- glucose,
- alkaline phosphate,
- hematocrit,
- white blood cell, and
- mean corpuscular volume
were all statistically significantly higher (better?) in healthy control children as compared to autistic children (P < 0.001).
Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that serum iron deficiency, serum calcium levels, serum Vitamin D levels; ferritin, reduced physical activity; child order, body mass index percentiles, and parental consanguinity can all be considered strong predictors and major factors associated with autism spectrum disorders.
Conclusion: This study suggests that deficiency of iron and Vitamin D as well as anemia were more common in autistic compared to control children.