An electronic surveillance system for monitoring the hospital presentation of nutritional vitamin D deficiency in children in Scotland
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Nagla El-Fakhri
Abstract
Background: Routine surveillance would be valuable for vitamin D deficiency as symptomatic vitamin D deficiency may be common in Scotland.
Aim: To assess the effectiveness of an electronic surveillance system to determine the current incidence of hospital-based presentation of childhood vitamin D deficiency in Scotland.
Methods: Active surveillance was performed for 2 years as part of an electronic web-based surveillance programme by the Scottish Paediatric Surveillance Unit. Notifications were followed by completion of a questionnaire. To further examine the validity of the system, cases with severe vitamin D deficiency in Glasgow and Edinburgh were identified from the regional laboratory and their clinical details were checked against those identified through the surveillance system.
Results: Between September 2009 and August 2011, 109 cases of vitamin D deficiency were notified. The majority of cases (n=82) were reported in Glasgow with an annual incidence of 41 cases per year. Fourteen cases were reported in Edinburgh during the first year of the study and two cases during the second year. At the time of clinical diagnosis, the median age of the children was 2 years (range 3 months–16 years). Cross-validation of data showed that among symptomatic cases that had a measured serum vitamin D of <14 nmol/L, 89% of eligible cases had been reported in Glasgow and 33% of cases had been reported in Edinburgh.
Conclusion: The incidence of vitamin D deficiency remains high in Scotland. An electronic surveillance system can provide data for studying the epidemiology of vitamin D deficiency but may underestimate the number of positive cases.
The authors would like to thank the following clinicians: Aberdeen: S Daud, W Houlsby, C Oxley, E Stephen, S Turner. Dundee: F Drimmie. Edinburgh: L Bath, D Devadason, M Drake, C Lee, L Logie, T Marshall, M Stark, J Walsh. Glasgow: C Begg, E Chalmers, W Christian, R Hague, H Hodge, A Kelly, H Minhas, Q R Naquib, M O’Regan, P Robinson, M Shaikh, L Somerville, M Wilson. Isle of Lewis: J Beesley. Kirkcaldy: A Ainine, A Crocket, E Menzies, M Thanoon. Stirling: I Abu Arafeh, M Colvin, J Schulga.
Conflict of interest statement
Funding: This work was supported through a PhD studentship funded by the Government of Libya.
Conflict of interests: None declared.
Contributorship statement: NM and SFA developed the study design. NE, CW, KC, PG and HM helped in data collection. NE and SFA performed data review and analysis. All clinicians who notified new cases via the electronic system are included in the acknowledgments. NE and SFA wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors were involved in reviewing and approving the final version of the manuscript.
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©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Review article
- Application of imaging modalities for evaluating neuroblastoma
- Images in pediatric endocrinology
- Lingual thyroid
- Original articles
- A levothyroxine dose recommendation for the treatment of children and adolescents with autoimmune thyroiditis induced hypothyroidism
- Fasting glucagon-like peptide-1 in patients with overt hyperthyroidism and euthyroid congenital hypothyroidism
- Perinatal complications and higher risks of offspring thyroid dysfunction in early childhood of Graves’ disease mothers with euthyroidism
- Clinical characteristics and management of cranial diabetes insipidus in infants
- Desmopressin administration in children with central diabetes insipidus: a retrospective review
- An electronic surveillance system for monitoring the hospital presentation of nutritional vitamin D deficiency in children in Scotland
- Frequency and severity of ketoacidosis at onset of autoimmune type 1 diabetes over the past decade in children referred to a tertiary paediatric care centre: potential impact of a national programme highlighted
- Vitamin D status is associated with early markers of cardiovascular disease in prepubertal children
- Evaluation of bone mineral density in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Observational study of diabetes management in type 1 diabetic school-age children during holiday versus school days
- Relationship of body mass index and GAD65 antibody status on β-cell secretion at diabetes onset in African-American children
- Serum dipeptidyl peptidase 4 activity in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Concomitant autoantibodies in newly diagnosed diabetic children with transient celiac serology or proven celiac disease
- Assessment of user-friendliness of the Norditropin FlexPro for pediatric patients treated with recombinant human growth hormone: results of an open-label user survey
- Cognitive impairment and gray/white matter volume abnormalities in pediatric patients with Turner syndrome presenting with various karyotypes
- Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among urban Indian adolescents and its relation with insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)
- Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in obese Chilean children and association with gene variants of the leptin-melanocortin system
- Evaluation of serum neopterin levels and its relationship with adipokines in pediatric obesity-related nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and healthy adolescents
- Could GSD type I expand the spectrum of disorders with elevated plasma chitotriosidase activity?
- Patient reports
- Treatment of hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia because of diffuse nesidioblastosis with nifedipine after surgical therapies in a newborn
- Successful subcutaneous glucagon use for persistent hypoglycaemia in congenital hyperinsulinism
- A novel atypical presentation of insulin autoimmune syndrome (Hirata’s disease) in a child
- Diagnosis of septo-optic dysplasia in a neonate with hypernatremia, hypoglycemia, and persistent hypothermia
- Speech and language delay in two children: an unusual presentation of hyperthyroidism
- Lissencephaly presenting with congenital hypothyroidism
- PHEX gene mutation in a Chinese family with six cases of X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets
- Primary hyperparathyroidism as an extremely rare cause of secondary myelofibrosis in childhood
- A family with Camurati-Engelman disease: the role of the missense p.R218C mutation in TGFbeta1 in bones and endocrine glands
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- Central precocious puberty in a girl with Prader-Willi syndrome
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus in a patient with homozygous sickle cell anemia
- Short communication
- No impact of obesity susceptibility loci on weight regain after a lifestyle intervention in overweight children
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