Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Cesarean Births

NEW YORK—Pregnant women with a deficiency of vitamin D are more likely to give birth by cesarean section, according to a new study out of Boston. Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine measured the amount of vitamin D in 253 women after they gave birth. Of those women, 43 (17 percent) had casern section births. The study (J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Mar;94(3):940-5. Epub 2008 Dec 23) found the women the women who gave birth via caesarian has lower levels of vitamin D than the women who did not have the cesarean section. Those deficient in vitamin D were nearly four times more likely to deliver by cesarean section than women with higher levels of vitamin D. The investigators noted cesarean delivery among 28 percent of the women deficient in vitamin D, but in just 14 percent of those with vitamin D levels above 37.5 nanomoles per liter.

The women in the study were about 25 years old on average and lived in the Boston area for their entire pregnancy.