Peer-reviewed article
Vitamin D Status Is Not Associated with Cognitive or Motor Function in Pre-School Ugandan Children
Agnes M. Mutua, Margaret Nampijja, Alison M. Elliott, John Morley Pettifor, Thomas Neil Williams et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether vitamin D levels in Ugandan children under five years old were linked to their cognitive and motor development at age five. Researchers measured vitamin D in 302 children and tested their development, adjusting for other factors that might affect the results. The study found no association between vitamin D status and cognitive or motor outcomes. The authors note that more research is needed in sub-Saharan Africa to understand vitamin D's role in child development.
Key points
- Only 2.7% of children had severely low vitamin D levels (<50 nmol/L), while 35.8% had low levels (50-75 nmol/L) and 62.6% had adequate levels (>75 nmol/L)
- No evidence found that earlier vitamin D status predicted cognitive or motor function at age five
- Study used multivariable linear regression adjusted for potential confounders
- Literature on vitamin D and neurobehavioural outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa is sparse
- Study calls for further longitudinal research on this topic in the region
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation. The relatively low prevalence of severe vitamin D deficiency in this population may limit the ability to detect associations if they exist at very low levels.
Abstract
Vitamin D deficiency is common worldwide and young children are among the most affected groups. Animal studies suggest a key role for vitamin D in brain development. However, studies investigating the effects of vitamin D on neurobehavioural outcomes in children are inconclusive and evidence is limited in sub-Saharan Africa. We evaluated the effect of vitamin D status on cognitive and motor outcomes using prospective data from the Entebbe Mother and Baby Study birth cohort. We analysed data from 302 Ugandan children with 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) measurements below five years and developmental measures at five years of age. We used multivariable linear regression, adjusted for potential confounders, to estimate the effect of 25(OH)D on cognitive and motor outcomes. Of 302 children, eight (2.7%) had 25(OH)D levels <50 nmol/L, 105 (35.8%) had levels 50-75 nmol/L and 189 (62.6%) had levels >75 nmol/L. There was no evidence that earlier vitamin D status was associated with cognitive and motor outcomes in five-year-old Ugandan children. This study adds to the sparse literature and highlights the need for further longitudinal studies on vitamin D and neurobehavioural outcomes in children living in sub-Saharan Africa.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Assessment of vitamin D status (25-hydroxyvitamin D measurement) and cognitive and motor outcomes at five years of age
- Population
- 302 Ugandan children from the Entebbe Mother and Baby Study birth cohort with vitamin D measurements before age five and developmental assessment at age five
Key finding
No association found between 25(OH)D levels and cognitive outcomes