Published online Jan 22, 2019. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v8.i1.1
Peer-review started: October 8, 2018
First decision: November 7, 2018
Revised: December 31, 2018
Accepted: January 10, 2019
Article in press: January 10, 2019
Published online: January 22, 2019
Processing time: 106 Days and 13.7 Hours
Vitamin D deficiency is commonly seen in children diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). While vitamin D is important for bone health, inadequate levels may also influence the course of disease.
To date, however, the optimal manner to correct and maintain adequate vitamin D levels in children with IBD have not been established.
The principal objective of this work was to systematically review the published literature focusing on vitamin D therapy in children with IBD. The further objective was to highlight opportunities for future work to augment and enhance the current understanding in this field.
The published literature was reviewed systematically for publications that had focused on vitamin D therapy in children with IBD. The available data was then reviewed in detail.
Ten published articles were identified and reviewed in detail. These reports included very different study designs with varied treatment regimens. Overall, there was no clear optimal regimen or approach that consistently corrected vitamin D deficiency and maintained levels over time.
Vitamin D sufficiency is an important aspect of managing children with IBD. The available published literature does not provide a clear approach to the management of deficiency of vitamin D in this setting. Various aspects likely influence the response to vitamin D therapy: these are important factors that need to be taken into account in considering future work in this area.