Weekly Vitamin D Supplementation Boosts Levels in Children with Atopic Dermatitis but Fails to Alleviate Severity: Study

The findings were published online in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology on 14 March 2024.

Vitamin D (VD) deficiency is prevalent among patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and is frequently linked to the severity of the condition. However, randomized trials assessing the impact of VD supplementation on AD have yielded mixed results, and there is limited data on how VD supplementation affects type 2 immunity in individuals with AD. To fill this knowledge gap, Arturo Borzutzky, Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, and colleagues aimed to examine the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation in reducing the severity of atopic dermatitis and influencing type 2 immunity biomarkers.

For this purpose, the researchers conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. They randomly assigned 101 children with atopic dermatitis to receive either weekly oral vitamin D3 (VD3) or a placebo for six weeks. The primary outcome measured was the change in the Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD).

The study led to the following findings:

• The mean age of participants was 6.3 ± 4.0 years, with a baseline SCORAD score of 32 ± 29. At the study's outset, 57% of the children were vitamin D deficient, with no significant differences between the groups.
• The increase in 25(OH)D levels was significantly greater in the vitamin D3 group compared to the placebo group (+43.4 ± 34.5 nmol/L versus +2.3 ± 21.2 nmol/L).
• There was no significant difference in SCORAD change at the six-week mark between the two groups (−5.3 ± 11.6 for vitamin D versus −5.5 ± 9.9 for placebo).
• There were no notable differences between the groups regarding changes in eosinophil counts, total IgE levels, specific IgE for Staphylococcal enterotoxin, or the cytokines CCL17, CCL22, CCL27, and LL-37.
• Staphylococcus aureus colonization in lesional skin showed no significant variation.
• Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene, specifically FokI, ApaI, and TaqI, did not influence the subjects' response to vitamin D supplementation.

"The findings showed that while weekly vitamin D supplementation successfully improved vitamin D levels among children with atopic dermatitis, it did not lead to significant improvements in disease severity or type 2 immunity biomarkers, pointing to the need for multifaceted treatment strategies," the researchers concluded.

Reference:

Borzutzky, A., Iturriaga, C., Pérez-Mateluna, G., Cristi, F., Cifuentes, L., Silva-Valenzuela, S., Vera-Kellet, C., Cabalín, C., Hoyos-Bachiloglu, R., Navarrete-Dechent, C., Cossio, M. L., Roy, C. L., & Camargo, C. A. (2024). Effect of weekly vitamin D supplementation on the severity of atopic dermatitis and type 2 immunity biomarkers in children: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 38(9), 1760-1768. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.19959