comparison of serum vitamin d level in healthy and with pneumonia children

background and objective: vitamin d (vit d) has an important role as immunoregulator. its deficiency is deemed as a risk factor for respiratory system infection. in this study the serum vit d levels of healthy and with pneumonia children were compared. methods: in this prospective case control study, 31 hospitalized children due to pneumonia and 40 healthy children both aged between 6 and 60 months were included. serum vit d level in these two groups were measured and compared. p values less than 0.05 considered significant. results: there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding “weight for age z-score”, however, no significant difference was found between them with respect to “height for age z-score” as well as serum vit d level. the mean serum vit d level was 30.71 ng/ml and 31.89 ng/ml in case group and control group, respectively (p=0.77). conclusion: our study did not support a straight relation between serum vit d level and pneumonia. this finding might be due to consumption of supplemental vit d by most of infants and toddlers in iran. further investigation in this area is recommended.