Vitamin D was not associated with survival or cerebrospinal fluid cathelicidin levels in children with bacterial meningitis

Acta Paediatr. 2018 Dec;107(12):2131-2136. doi: 10.1111/apa.14393. Epub 2018 May 31.

Abstract

Aim: Vitamin D deficiency impairs the immunological system and has been associated with worse outcomes of infectious diseases, but its role in bacterial meningitis remains unknown. We investigated whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations related to disease outcomes and to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cathelicidin concentrations in childhood bacterial meningitis.

Methods: All consecutively enrolled patients in a clinical trial on childhood bacterial meningitis in Latin America in 1996-2003 were considered, and 142 children, with a median age of seven months who had a confirmed bacterial aetiology and frozen serum available for further analyses, were included in this study. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were determined with a chemiluminescence immunoassay analyser, while CSF cathelicidin was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: The median serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was 96 (range 19-251) nmol/L. No relationship was found with patient survival, but children with any neurological sequelae had lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels than children without sequelae. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was unrelated to cathelicidin concentrations in CSF.

Conclusion: Although serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in children with bacterial meningitis was not associated with survival or CSF cathelicidin concentrations, its relationship with more detailed disease outcomes warrants further study.

Keywords: Bacterial meningitis; Cathelicidin; Immunity; Neurological sequelae; Vitamin D deficiency.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Cathelicidins
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Latin America / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Meningitis, Bacterial / blood*
  • Meningitis, Bacterial / cerebrospinal fluid
  • Meningitis, Bacterial / mortality
  • Prospective Studies
  • Vitamin D / analogs & derivatives*
  • Vitamin D / blood

Substances

  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides
  • Vitamin D
  • 25-hydroxyvitamin D
  • Cathelicidins