Vitamin D and pregnancy: current state of the problem in the central regions of the Russian Federation

BACKGROUND: It has been proven that vitamin D plays an important role in pregnancy. Deficiency of this element may be associated with the risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia, placentar insufficiency, low birth weight and premature birth.
AIMS: To conduct an epidemiological analysis of vitamin D supply in women at different stages of pregnancy, living in Russia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 1198 pregnant women living in 3 regions of Russia in the observational, multicenter, cross-sectional, continuous study. All pregnant women were tested for serum 25(OH)D levels. We collected biomaterial from August 2018 to December 2019. The end point of the study was the indicator of vitamin D supply in pregnant women and its level depending on the trimester of pregnancy and region of Russia. Statistical analysis included counting and grouping according to vitamin D levels, and calculating the median vitamin D concentration in each region.
RESULTS: We confirmed vitamin D deficiency in all regions. The optimum level of this element is present in less than 7% of women. Insufficiency of this element is present in 20,62% of all women. The largest percentage of them is in a deficit of this element — 46,66%. We found that the lowest rates are in Smolensk, where the median was 12,75 ng/ml. In addition, we found changes in vitamin D concentration: with an increase in gestational age revealed a decrease in its level.
CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we confirmed the presence of a 25(OH)D deficiency in most of the examined pregnant women, which is consistent with international epidemiological data. We should remember about these both at the stage of pre-gravid preparation and at the stage of pregnancy itself in order to achieve the optimal level of vitamin D.

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