Abstract
Abstract
Background
The study aimed to investigate whether vitamin D deficiency is a common finding in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children and whether such deficiency is related to ASD severity and language age or not.
Methods
A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on ASD children aged 2-6 years. The participants were 80 Egyptian children with ASD. All participants were assessed using DSM-V, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), language assessment, and assessment of serum vitamin D using ADVIA Centaur Vit D assay.
Results
About 63.8% of ASD children have vitamin D insufficiency, 28.8 % have vitamin D deficiency, and 7.4% have normal serum levels. No correlation was found between serum vitamin D and language age (r = -0.085, P = 0.451), DSM 5 severity levels (r = 0.015,P= 0.894), and CARS scores (r= 0.075, P= 0.511).
Conclusion
ASD children have lower serum vitamin D levels, which may be one of the environmental factors contributing to ASD development in genetically susceptible individuals, and its correction may be helpful as adjuvant therapy for ASD.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
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