Vitamin D reduces premature birth risk
Vitamin D supplementation led to significant improvements in premature birth risk among pregnant women at an urban medical centre. During the 15-month study, 1,064 pregnancies were traced. The treatment goal was to optimize the women’s vitamin D levels to 100nmol/L or higher, and free vitamin D supplements were offered for this purpose.
At the beginning of the study, 18 percent of single births at MUSC were premature, defined as delivery at less than 37 weeks. Over the course of the study, 13 percent of the pregnancies resulted in a premature birth. However, women with vitamin D levels of 100nmol/L or higher were 62 percent less likely to have a premature birth than those with levels below.
The results were even more striking among women with a history of premature birth; this group was 80 percent less likely to have another premature birth when their vitamin D levels were 100nmol/L or higher compared to those with levels below. Increasing vitamin D levels also helped with premature birth disparities among women of different race/ethnicities.
