Correlation Between Serum Vitamin D Levels In Children And Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objective: To examinethe level of serum vitamin D in children with autism spectrum disorder(ASD)and to evaluate the relationship between serum vitamin D and core symptoms of ASD.Methods: ASD childrenwhowere diagnosed in Department of Child Health Care,Chongqing Medical University Children’s Hospitalfrom January 2018 to December 2018 were selected a s the ASD group,and the healthy children whose age and sex distribution matched those of the ASD group in the same period were selected as the control group.Neither of the two groups was supplemented with vitamin D in the past 1 month.The level of serum 25-(OH)D of the two groups was detected by chemiluminescence method,and its concentration unit was expressed by ng/ml.The nutritional status of vitamin D was divided into normal(> 30ng/ml),deficiency(≥ 10ng/ml and ≤30ng/ml)and deficiency(< 10ng/ml).Meanwhile,ADOS and ABC scales were used to evaluate the children with ASD.Results:1.The study included 155 children with ASD(including 132 male,23 female,mean age 2.47±1.08 years)and 293 healthy controls(including 227 male,66 female,mea n age 2.65 ±1.53years).The serum level of 25-(OH)D in ASD group was[20.77(15.83,26.71)ng/ml],which was significantly lower than that[23.79(20.03,28.89)ng/ml] in healthy control group(P < 0.001).The rate of vitamin D insufficiencyand deficiency in the ASD group(81.29%)was higher than that in the control group(79.86%),but the difference was not statistically significant.2.The serum 25-(OH)D level of ASD group was negatively correlated with age(r=-0.395,p<0.001),and the 25-(OH)D level of children in the control group was negatively correlated with age(R=-0.319,p<0.001).3.In spring,summer,and autumn,the serum vitamin D levels of children in the ASD group were lower than those in the control group(P=0.003,P=0.004,P=0.010),and the difference was statistically significant.In winter,the serum vitamin D levels of children in the ASD group There was no significant difference between the vitamin D level and the control group(P=0.384).In ASD group,the level of serum 25-(OH)D in winter group was higher than that in other seasonal groups,and the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.01).There was no significant difference in serum 25-(OH)D level among spring,summer and autumn groups.In the healthy control group,there was no significant difference in the level of vitamin D among the three groups(P=0.259),and there was no significant difference in insufficiencyand deficiency rate among the three groups(P =0.252).4.There was no significant correlation between the level of serum 25-(OH)D and the total score of ABC in ASD group(r =0.003 and 0.977).The level of serum 25-(OH)D in ASD group was negatively correlated with total ADOS score,communication,social interaction,play,stereotyped behavior and limited interest,but the results were not statistically significant(r=-0.091、-0.076、-0.119、-0.022、-0.122,P=0.364、 0.448、 0.236、 0.825、 0.226).Conclusion: The level of vitamin D in children with ASD is significantly lower than that in healthy children,and age and season have some influence on the level of vitamin D,but there is no significant correlation between the level of vitamin D and the core symptoms of ASD.