Advances in correlation between vitamin D nutritional status and diseases in premature infants

Premature infants are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency, thereby commonly treated with vitamin D supplementation after birth. However, the nutritional status of vitamin D in premature infants is not optimistic due to the fact of high incidence of vitamin D deficiency. Studies have found that vitamin D is associated with a variety of diseases in premature infants, including metabolic bone disease, respiratory distress syndrome, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis and infection. Clinicians should be aware of the importance of vitamin D for premature infants and prescribe vitamin D supplementation as early as possible with the dose reference of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level. Key words: Infant, premature, diseases; Vitamin D; Nutritional status; Vitamin D deficiency