Low Vitamin D Linked to Anemia in Kids

DENVERChildren with low levels of vitamin D may have an increased risk for anemia, according to new research presented May at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies. The findings also suggest low vitamin D levels in black children may be an important contributor to anemia.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center examined data from the blood samples of more than 9,400 children aged 2 to 18 to determine the relationship between hemoglobin and vitamin D. Children with levels below 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) of blood had a 50-percent higher risk for anemia than children with levels 20 ng/ml and higher. For each 1 ng/ml increase in vitamin D, anemia risk dropped by 3 percent.

Only 1 percent of Caucasian children had anemia, compared with 9 percent of black children. On average, black children had much lower vitamin D levels than Caucasian children.

Anemia is more common in black children, but the reasons for this remain unclear, although some suspect that biologic and genetic factors are involved. The new findings suggest low vitamin D levels in black children may be an important contributor to anemia.

"The striking difference between black and white children in vitamin D levels and hemoglobin gives us an interesting clue that definitely calls for a further study," said lead investigator Meredith Atkinson, M.D., M.H.S., a pediatric nephrologist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.