The researchers also tallied the number of acute, primary care office visits during the first 18 months of life among the children in each of the three subgroups for a variety of respiratory diagnoses. The three groups showed no significant differences in total number of office visits for most of these diagnoses, including colds, otitis media, croup, and bronchitis. However, about 12% of children in the control group had been seen in a primary care office for a diagnosis of asthma, compared with none of the children in the low dosage group and about 4% in the high-dosage group. The differences between the two intervention groups and the control group were statistically significant. Dr. Grant cautioned that this finding is very preliminary and that any conclusions about the impact of vitamin D supplements on asthma incidence must await studies with larger numbers of children who are followed to an older age.
Dr. Grant had no disclosures.