EVALUATION OF VITAMIN D IN MOTHERS AND NEWBORNS AT BIRTH IN SULAIMANI MATERNITY TEACHING HOSPITAL

Volume 13 , Issue 2 , July 2025 , Pages 163-170

Authors

Diya Yousif Mahmood 1 ; Saman Hussein Noori 2

1 Ministry of Health, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

2 Departmentcod Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

DOI logo 10.17656/jsmc.10409

Keywords

Abstract

Background
Deficiencies in vitamin D are frequent worldwide. Approximately 1 billion individuals around the globe are
vitamin D deficient (<20ng/ml), and half of the population is insufficient (20-29ng/ml). According to extensive
epidemiological studies, vitamin D deficiency is common in women, particularly pregnant and nursing
mothers. Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy is associated with various maternal and fetal health effects..
Objectives
Vitamin D levels in fetuses and newborns are directly related to their mothers’ levels during pregnancy. The
study aims to assess and compare the vitamin D levels of mothers and their newborn babies. Additionally, we
are interested in determining whether there is a link between vitamin D levels and delivery outcomes.
Patients and Methods
One hundred pairs of mothers and newborns enrolled in a cross-sectional study at Maternity Teaching Hospital
in Sulaimani. Any newborn baby diagnosed with a congenital abnormality during pregnancy was excluded.
Also, any mother that was on anticonvulsant drugs was excluded. Blood samples for vitamin D analysis were
taken from the mothers and newborns at birth. In addition, the demographic and medical data of the mothers
and newborns were recorded. All evaluations had a p-value of 0.05 as the threshold for statistical significance.
Results
The mothers’ and newborns’ mean vitamin D were 17.2±13.33 ng/ml and 10.48±9.77 ng/ml, respectively. An
examination of the data using statistical methods indicated a connection between the vitamin D found in
mothers and the levels found in their newborns (p-value=0.001). Furthermore, higher levels during pregnancy
were linked to better Apgar scores (≥7) for their newborn children (p-value=0.03). Maternal vitamin D level
was not statistically associated with other birth outcomes; p-value > 0.05.
Conclusion
The results of this study show that vitamin D deficiency in mothers leads to deficiency in their newborns.
Except for the Apgar score, no statistically significant relationship was found between maternal vitamin D
levels and other birth outcomes.

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  • First online26 July 2025
  • Published at26 July 2025

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