Abstract
Aims: There are conflicting reports regarding vitamin-D (vit-D) levels in children and its effect on development of atopic dermatitis (AD). The purpose of this study was to examine the studies looking at antenatal and postnatal vit-D levels and the development of AD. Methods and results: A litterature search in pubmed and EMBASE was conducted using the words vit-D, antenatal, postnatal and AD. Outdated articles and small studies were excluded, some studies were excluded because they did not fulfil predefined criteria of relevancy. In total 19 clinical studies were included observing the correlation between vit-D levels and AD. Additionally 17 studies were included reviewing vit-D metabolism, pathogenesis of AD and filaggrin mutations. Of the 19 clinical trials, 8 looked directly at the association of vit-D levels and the development of AD. Of these, 6 reported a clear association between low vit-D levels and AD, indicating an important role for vit-D levels as a predictor of AD development, particularly in winterrelated AD. In contrast to this, the remaining 2 studies reported a correlation between high vit-D levels and the development of AD. Conclusion: Several studies report high levels of vit-D as a protective factor against developing AD. However, some studies report high levels of vit-D as a risk factor. Current available data indicates that vit-D supplements might be efficient in children with winterrelated AD and low vit-D levels. However, to determine if vit-D supplements should be recommended to all children with AD further studies are needed.