Summary: The evaluation of the vitamin D status can be easily carried out by the determination of the serum 25OHD which reflects the vitamin stocks. In the newborn, the vitamin status depends entirely on that of the mother. Maternal vitamin D stores can sustain infant requirements for the first 6 weeks of life only if maternal vitamin D status was adequate at the end of pregnancy, which is often not the case. No study has been carried out in Algeria concerning the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in newborns and their mothers, we propose through this work to evaluate the status of a series of newborns and their mothers.

Results: The analysis covers 100 newborns and their mothers recruited during the 4 seasons. The average age of the mothers was 28 years and 6 months, with a standard deviation of 5 years and 3 months. 95% of the population studied wore covering clothes. The average age of newborns was 3 days ± 1 day. The sex ratio was 2. The average total vitamin D level of these mothers was 8.5 ± 3.3 ng/ml, significantly lower than current recommendations (25 OHD > 20 ng/ml) with an average PTH level of 97 ± 6.7 pg/ml. The average total vitamin D level of their newborns was 15.3 ± 2.8 ng/ml, significantly lower than current recommendations (25 OHD> 20 ng/ml) with an average PTH level of 63.9 ± 4.8 µg/ml. The risk of vitamin D deficiency is associated with individual factors (wearing covering clothing), lifestyle habits (lack of sunshine, insufficient dietary intake of vitamin D) and environmental factors (season). A statistical correlation significant was found between the mean serum concentration of vitamin D of the mother and the serum concentrations of vitamin D in her newborn (The lowest levels of vitamin D were found in mothers who had a low level of vitamin D). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between mean serum vitamin D concentration and PTH concentrations in mothers and their newborns.

Conclusion: A targeted preventive action through vitamin D supplementation in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy seems necessary in order to prevent serious consequences for the mother and her newborn.

Keywords: Vitamin D; Deficiency; Mother; Newborn; Algeria