Vitamin D status in Moroccan pregnant women and newborns: reports of 102 cases

INTRODUCTION Vitamin D insufficiency to pregnant women has been associated with a number of adverse consequences, and has been recognized as a public health concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate vitamin D status of Morrocan pregnant women and their newborns. Our study is being the first of its kind in Morocco, as it supports the program of systematic supplementation of pregnant women in the third quarter. Its results have established a new program for the fight against the deficit of various nutrients, thereby intake of vitamin D has become routine. So this work is a true example of action research. METHODS It's an observational and a cross sectional study. The data was collected prospectively from the 1st January to 31 December 2012 in the labor room of the Souissi maternity hospital, at the Ibn Sina university center of Rabat in Morocco. Women included were consented to participate in the study. Data on epidemiological, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics was recolted by interview, physical exam and biochemistry parameters. Hypovitaminosis D is defined as serum level of vitamin D ≤ 50 nmol/l (20 ng/ml). RESULTS Our study included 102 cases of mother-newborn pairs. The average age of mothers was 28.3 +/- 6.7 years (range 17-43 years), 90.1% of women enrolled had a hypovitaminosis D, the average weight of newborns was 3377.9 +/- 509g (2270 - 4880g). Hypovitaminosis D is not correlated with the origin, season, body mass index, birth interval and birth weight. It was positively correlated with maternal serum calcium (p=0.000). CONCLUSION The maternal hypovitaminosis D is real public health problem. The prevention is necessary, by the systematic vitamin D supplementation for pregnant women.