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Vitamin D levels at birth and risk of type 1 diabetes in childhood: a case–control study

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Abstract

Aims

To assess whether vitamin D levels at birth were associated with risk of having type 1 diabetes up to 10 years of age and the potential modifier effect of ethnic group.

Methods

The Piedmont Diabetes Registry and the Newborn Screening Regional data were linked to identify cases (n = 67 incident children aged ≤10 years at diabetes onset, 2002–2012) and up to five controls (n = 236) matched for birthday and ethnic group. Cards with neonatal blood spot were used and 25-hydroxyvitamin D(3) assessed with tandem mass spectroscopy.

Results

In conditional logistic regression, OR for unit increment of log vitamin D was 0.78 (95 % CI 0.56–1.10). Vitamin D was significantly lower in migrant than in Italian control newborn babies (p < 0.0001), and interaction between vitamin D and migrant status was statistically significant (p = 0.04). Compared to migrant newborns babies with vitamin D ≥ 2.14 ng/ml, migrants with lower levels had an OR of 14.02 (1.76–111.70), whereas no association was evident in Italians.

Conclusions

Our case–control study within the Piedmont Diabetes Registry showed no association between vitamin D levels at birth and risk of having type 1 diabetes up to 10 years of age, apart from the subgroup of migrant babies, which might have clinical implications if confirmed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by DeAgostini Foundation. Novara, Italy. Grant Number 2012 and by University of Turin, ex 60 %. Guarantors of the study are Francesco Cadario and Giovanni Bona.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 [5].

Informed consent

Informed consent of patients included in the study was obtained by the Piedmont Diabetes Registry and the Newborn Screening Regional Center. The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the S. Giovanni Battista Hospital, Turin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Sciences, Amedeo Avogadro University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

    Francesco Cadario, Silvia Savastio, Marco Bagnati, Matteo Vidali & Gianni Bona

  2. IRCAD (Interdisciplinary Research Center of Autoimmune Diseases), Novara, Italy

    Francesco Cadario, Silvia Savastio, Franco Cerutti & Gianni Bona

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Newborn Screening Regional Center, University of Torino, Turin, Italy

    Veronica Pagliardini

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Franco Cerutti & Ivana Rabbone

  5. Pediatric Hospital, Tortona, Italy

    Franco Fontana

  6. Saint Arrigo Pediatric Hospital, Alessandria, Italy

    Riccardo Lera

  7. Pediatrics Hospital, Cuneo, Italy

    Valeria De Donno

  8. Pediatrics Hospital, Vercelli, Italy

    Anna Valori

  9. Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Corso Dogliotti 14, 10126, Turin, Italy

    Gabriella Gruden & Graziella Bruno

Authors
  1. Francesco Cadario
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  2. Silvia Savastio
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  3. Veronica Pagliardini
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  4. Marco Bagnati
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  5. Matteo Vidali
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  8. Franco Fontana
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  9. Riccardo Lera
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  10. Valeria De Donno
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  11. Anna Valori
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  12. Gabriella Gruden
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  13. Gianni Bona
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  14. Graziella Bruno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Graziella Bruno.

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Cadario, F., Savastio, S., Pagliardini, V. et al. Vitamin D levels at birth and risk of type 1 diabetes in childhood: a case–control study. Acta Diabetol 52, 1077–1081 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-015-0772-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-015-0772-6

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