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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Aug 7.
Published in final edited form as: Health Technol Assess. 2014 Jul;18(45):1–190. doi: 10.3310/hta18450

Table 14. The effect of maternal vitamin D status in gestation on offspring bone mass – Observational studies.

First Author
and year
Bias
score
Study
Type
Study Details, age at which children were assessed and technique used Offspring bone outcomes assessed (units) Confounders/
adjustments
Number of weeks gestation when maternal 25(OH)D 3 was measured Mean (SD) or median (IQR) maternal 25(OH)D concentration (nmol/l) Mean (SD) bone outcome according to maternal 25(OH)D category/Unadjusted correlation co-efficient (r) or regression co-efficient (β) (95% CI) Adjusted correlation co-efficient (r) or regression co-efficient (B) (95% CI) conclusion
Weiler,
2005 86
3 (med) Cross-
sectional
Winnipeg, Canada
Overall cohort= 342 women
Sample size for analysis=50
Neonates delivered at term and assessed within 15 days of birth by DXA
Lumbar spine (LS) BMC (g) LS BMC/bod y weight (wt) (g/kg)
Femur BMC Femur BMC/wt
Whole Body (WB) BMC WB BMC/wt
Infant weight, gestational age at birth, infant weight, gestational age at scan, infant vitamin D status, lean mass
Infant sex, infant length and maternal ethnicity not included in the final model since they did not significantly predict infant BMC
Within 48 hours of delivery Overall mean not given
Mean in adequate 25(OH)D group (≥37.5 nmol/l, n=32)= 61.6 (24.7)
Mean in the deficient group (≤37.5 nmol/l, n=18)= 28.6 (7.8)
25(OH) D nmol/l <35 >35 P value Not given No significant difference in lumbar spine BMC or lumbar spine BMC/body weight, femur BMC or whole body BMC was observed between those with adequate and deficient maternal 25(OH)D
Significantly higher femur BMC/body weight and WB BMC/ body weight in those with adequate maternal 25(OH)D
LS BMC(g) 2.3 (0.5) 2.3 (0.5) ≥0.99
LS BMC/wt (g/kg) 0.59 (.14) 0.66 (.125) 0.08
Femur BMC (g) 2.8 (0.7) 2.9 (0.6) 0.60
Femur BMC/wt (g/kg) 0.71 (.17) 0.81 (.15) 0.027
WB BMC (g) 76.4 (12.9 ) 75.7 (13.7) 0.86
WB BMC/wt (g/kg) 19.49 (3.05 ) 21.33 (2.03) 0.017
Javaid,
2006 2
5 (low) Cohort Princess Anne Cohort, Southampton, UK
n=198 women
Children assessed at mean 8.9 years by DXA
WB BMC (g) BA (cm2) BMD (g/cm2)
Lumbar spine (LS) BMC(g) BA (cm2) BMD(g/cm2)
Gestational age , offspring age at DXA 34 weeks 25(OH) D conc (nmol/l) n (%) Not given Outcome r for each 2.5 nmol/l increase in maternal 25(OH) D P value Positive association found between maternal 25(OH)D in late pregnancy and offspring WB and LS BMC, WB BA, WB and LS BMD at aged 9 years
<27.5 28 (18) WB BMC 0.21 0.0088
27.5-50 49 (31) WB BA 0.17 0.0269
WB BMD 0.21 0.0063
>50 83 (52) LS BMC 0.17 0.03
LS BA 0.07 0.3788
LS BMD 0.21 0.0094
Prentice,
2009 95
5 (low) Cohort Gambia, Africa

Subset of pregnant Gambian women participating in a calcium supplementatio n trial n=125 women

Children assessed at 2, 13 and 52 weeks by SPA for radial measurements and DXA for whole body measurements
Radial midshaft BMC (g) and bone width

WB BMC (g/cm)

WB BA (cm2)
Season, mat height, weight, weight gain, infant sex and whether received calcium supplement 20 weeks and 36 weeks 20 weeks = 103 (25)

36 weeks = 111 (27)
Not given Not given No association between maternal 25(OH)D and infant radial midshaft BMC and bone width, or WB BMC and WB BA at either time point
Sayers,
2009 42
3 (med) Cohort ALSPAC, cohort, UK n=6955 women
Children assessed at mean age 9.9 years by DXA
WB less head BMC, (g), BA (cm2) BMD (g/cm2), aBMC (g) BMC adjusted for area BA adjusted for height Not directly measured
Ambient UVB measured during 98 days preceding birth
Not measured Outcome β (change in outcome per 1 SD increase in UVB) (95% CI) p value Not given Maternal UVB exposure in pregnancy was positively associated with offspring BMC, BA and BMD. This remained with BA even after adjusting for height.

No relationship was observed with maternal UV exposure and aBMC
BMC (g) 9.6 (5.3, 13.8) <0.0001
BA (cm2) 8.1 (4.3, 11.9) <0.0001
BMD (g/cm2) 0.003 (0.001, 0.004 <0.0001
aBMC (g) 0.69 (0.22, 1.60) 0.14
Akcakus
2009 100
4 (med) Cross-
sectional
Turkey
Cohort=100 women 3 groups, 30 SGA, 40 AGA, 30 LGA infants
Most women veiled
Children assessed within 24hour of birth by DXA
WB BMC(g)
WB BMD (g/cm2)
Nil Delivery Overall not given
SGA= 21.8 (7.5)
AGA= 21.5 (7.5)
LGA=19.3 (7.0)
>90% had 25(OH)D <25 nmol/l
WB BMC; r= −0.055
WB BMD; r=0.042
Not given No relationship observed between maternal 25(OH)D at delivery and neonatal BMC and BMD
Viljakainen,
2010 94
3 (med) Cohort Helsinki, Finland
n=125 women recruited during last trimester (Oct-Dec). All Caucasian, non-smokers, primiparous
Children assessed when newborn by pQCT of tibia
Tibial BMC (g/cm), tibial CSA (mm2) and tibial BMD (mg/cm3) 3 models:
  1. adjusted for z score birth weight

  2. as above + maternal height

  3. as above +log(age of newborn at pQCT)

First trimester (8-10 weeks) and 2 days post-partum. Mean of 2 values used to calculate ,vitamin D status- At 8-10 weeks = 41.0 (13.6) Postpartum = 45.1 (11.9) Overall median ,vitamin D status=- 42.6 Bone outcome r for log 25(OH) D
p value
r after adjust 1 r after adjust 2 r after adjust 3 A positive significant association seen between maternal 25(OH)D status and offspring tibial BMC and tibial CSA.
Tibial BMC and CSA significantly higher in those with maternal 25(OH)D above median than those below even after adjustments
No association seen with tibial BMD
Tibial BMC 0.149, p=0.163 0.232 P=0.034 0.230 p=0.036 0.192 P=0.085
Log (tibial CSA) 0.197, p=0.05 0.214 p=0.05 0.218 P=0.048 0.226 P=0.042
Viljakainen
2011 99
4 (med ) Cohort Helsinki, Finland n=68 women
Children assessed at 14 months by pQCT of tibia
This was a follow-up study of same cohort as Viljakainen, 2010). 55 children had bone data at both time-points
Tibial BMC (g/cm), tibial CSA (mm2) and tibial BMD (mg/cm3) Sex, birth weight z score, walking age, exclusive breast feeding and offspring 25(OH)D at 14 months. First trimester (8-10 weeks) and 2 days post-partum. Mean of 2 values used to calculate ,vitamin D status- Not given
Overall median “vitamin D status” = 42.6
Not given Not given No difference in tibial BMC or BMD in offspring with maternal 25(OH)D above median than those below
CSA higher at 14 months in offspring with maternal 25(OH)D above median than those below.
This suggest that postnatal vitamin D supplementatio n only partly improved the differences in bone variables induced by maternal vitamin D status during pregnancy
Dror,
2012 93
7 (low) Cross-
sectional
Oakland California, USA n=120 women
Children assessed between 8-21 days old by DXA
WB BMC
WB aBMC
Maternal height, GDM, infant age at DXA, feeding practice (breast, formula, mixed), infant weight-for-height z score, infant height-for age z score, bone area and size for gestational age Per-natal 75.5 (32.3) WB BMC β= −0.02 (p=0.52) WB aBMC: β= 0.0007 (−0.031, 0.032)
P=0.97
No association seen between maternal 25(OH)D and offspring WB BMC or WB aBMC either analysed continuously or categorically

SGA = small for gestational age, AGA = appropriate for gestational age, LGA = large for gestational age

WB BMC= whole body bone mineral content, WB BMD = whole body bone mineral density, WB BA= whole body bone area, aBMC= bone mineral content adjusted for bone area)

DXA= Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry

SPA= Single photon absorptiometry

pQCT= peripheral quantitative computed tomography