Vitamin D and B12 Deficiencies Linked to Severity of Nocturnal Enuresis in Children
Researchers at Cairo University's Children's Hospital have found vitamin D and B12 deficiencies may significantly contribute to the severity of the clinical condition of primary nocturnal enuresis, commonly known as bedwetting among children. A recent study was conducted by Ibrahim and colleagues and was published in Annals of Medicine.
This was an analytical descriptive study. Altogether, 288 children suffering from primary nocturnal enuresis were recruited for the study. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected, and levels of vitamins D and B12 were measured. These levels were then compared with the degree of enuresis; in this case, episodes per night.
Vitamin Deficiency Prevalence:
About half of the children showed a deficiency of vitamin D. However, on the contrary, 31.3% (n = 90) children were reported to have deficient vitamin D levels; 20.5% (n = 59), however, had adequate levels.
About 25% (n = 72) of children were shown to be deficient in vitamin B12.
Relationship with Severity of Enuresis:
Vitamin D had a significantly stronger negative correlation with the number of episodes per day than did vitamin B12. This could mean that the lower levels of vitamin D correlated more closely to a higher number of episodes.
A cut-off of 13.7 ng/ml for vitamin D was adopted in the present study, where kids are likely to encounter wet nights, which translate to more episodes of nocturnal enuresis.
Statistical Analysis:
The one sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test performed significant for vitamin D and vitamin B12, signifying that both have significance regarding severity in children's enuresis (p = 0.001).
Low levels of both vitamin D and B12 were common in the children, who were bedwetting primarily nocturnally. Management with behavioral therapies and treatment of deficiency of these vitamins, primarily vitamin D, also may result in significant benefits for the management of nocturnal enuresis. This study offers supportive evidence for the concept of nutritional deficiencies in clinical management for children whose bedwetting problems may improve both frequency of dry nights and quality of life.
Reference:
Atef Abdelsattar Ibrahim, H., Sobhy Menshawy, S., E. Hassan, F., El-Makawi, S. M., Raafat Amn, O., Bastawy, N., Saad, S., M.Hussein, S., Mahmoud, D., & Mohamed Abdelhamid ElKhashab, K. (2024). Vitamin D and vitamin B 12 profiles in children with primary nocturnal enuresis, an analytical cross-sectional study. Annals of Medicine, 56(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2024.2352030
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