Abstract:
Objective To investigate the association between serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D[25-(OH) D] level and incidence and severity of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) in infants. Methods The enrolled participants were all from the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College admitted from January 2018 to May 2019, including 172 infants with CAP as the CAP group and 50 normal infants as the control group. According to different concentrations of 25-(OH) D, the CAP group was divided into adequacy (88 cases), insufficiency (54 cases), and deficiency (30 cases) groups. The differences in serum 25-(OH)D, white blood cell count (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), extra-pulmonary complications, and severity of disease amongst the three groups were recorded and compared. The correlation between the 25-(OH) D levels of CAP patients with WBC, CRP, PCT, and ESR levels were statistically analysed. Results Comparison of the CAP group with the control group revealed that the 25-(OH) D deficiency rates were 48.84% and 24.00%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). No significant difference in CRP levels was observed between the adequate, insufficient, and deficient groups (P>0.05), whereas statistically significant differences were observed amongst the 25-(OH) D, WBC, PCT, ESR, extra-pulmonary complications, and degree of disease in the adequate, insufficient, and deficient groups (all P < 0.05). In particular, the levels of WBC, PCT, ESR, incidence of extra-pulmonary complications, and severe disease rate in the deficiency group were higher than those in the other two groups, and the difference was statistically significant (all P < 0.05). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the serum 25-(OH) D level was negatively correlated with WBC and ESR in the CAP group (r=-0.444, -0.326, P < 0.05). No correlation was observed with CRP and PCT level (r=0.033, -0.170, P>0.05). Conclusion The deficiency rate of serum 25-(OH) D in infants with CAP is higher than that of normal infants, which is correlated with the occurrence and severity of the disease. Therefore, monitoring serum 25-(OH) D can aid the assessment of CAP severity in infants.