A Nested Case-Control Study of First-Trimester Maternal Vitamin D Status and Risk for Spontaneous Preterm Birth

ABSTRACT

We assessed if first-trimester vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent in women who experienced a spontaneous preterm birth compared with women who delivered at term. We conducted a nested case-control study of pregnant women who had previously given blood for first-trimester combined screening for trisomy 21 and subsequently delivered at a tertiary hospital between November 2004 and July 2009. From an overall cohort of 4225 women, 40 cases of spontaneous preterm birth (≥23⁰/₇ and ≤34⁶/₇ weeks) were matched by race/ethnicity with 120 women delivering at term (≥37⁰/₇ weeks) with uncomplicated pregnancies. Banked maternal serum was used to measure maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. The prevalence of first-trimester maternal vitamin D deficiency [25(OH)D <50 nmol/L] was comparable among women who subsequently delivered preterm compared with controls (7.5% versus 6.7%, p = 0.90). The median 25(OH)D level for all subjects was 89 nmol/L (interquartile range, 73 to 106 nmol/L). Seventy-three percent (117/160) of the cohort had sufficient vitamin D levels [25(OH)D ≥75 nmol/L]. In a cohort of pregnant women with mostly sufficient levels of first-trimester serum 25(OH)D, vitamin D deficiency was not associated with spontaneous preterm birth.

KEYWORDS

Preterm birth - vitamin D - 25-hydroxyvitamin D

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