Evaluation of Vitamin D Status and Effective Maternal Factors on Vitamin D Levels in Cord Blood of Infants Born in Zahedan, Iran

The available sources indicate our insufficient knowledge about vitamin D levels in infants born in Iran. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the vitamin D status and effective maternal factors on vitamin D levels in cord blood of neonates born in south-east of Iran.
This descriptive-cross sectional study was performed on neonates who were born in Ali-Ibn-Abitaleb Hospital (Zahedan, Iran), and their mothers from August 2020 to January 2021. To assess the maternal serum and umbilical cord level of vitamin D, 5 ml of whole blood (umbilical cord blood and maternal venous blood) was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The relationship between different levels of the infants’ vitamin D and some maternal vitamin D deficiency factors were evaluated.
A total of 190 pregnant women & 190 infants participated in this study. The mean serum level of vitamin D in newborns was 37.90 ngr/ml, of which 41(21.8%) were vitamin D deficient.  Vitamin D status of neonatal cord blood was significantly related to using vitamin D supplements by mother during pregnancy, parity, maternal literacy level, infant gender, maternal exposure to sunlight and maternal vitamin D status (p<0.05 for all).
Our study showed that using vitamin D supplements by mother during pregnancy, parity, maternal literacy level, infant gender, maternal exposure to sunlight and maternal vitamin D status are related to the infants’ vitamin D status. Further research is needed to determine the reason behind some established relationships in the present research including the relationship between parity and vitamin D in neonates.