Vitamin D and the Breastfeeding Infant: Family Medicine Clinicians' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices.

BACKGROUND: The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Academy of Medicine recommend vitamin D supplementation for breastfeeding infants. However, compliance with this recommendation is poor. Maternal supplementation with vitamin D is a safe and effective alternative to achieving vitamin D sufficiency in breastfeeding infants, and mothers have indicated a preference for self-supplementation over infant supplementation. Research aim: We sought to explore Family Medicine clinicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding vitamin D supplementation recommendations for breastfeeding dyads. METHODS: Fifty-six Family Medicine clinicians (including faculty physicians, resident physicians, and nurse practitioners/physician assistants) completed an online, anonymous survey regarding their knowledge and practices concerning vitamin D supplementation for breastfeeding infants. RESULTS: The vast majority of clinicians (92.9%) correctly identified the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2008 recommended dose for vitamin D supplementation in breastfeeding infants and estimated recommending vitamin D supplementation of exclusively breastfeeding infants 70.1% of the time. If all options were equivalent, clinicians would prefer to offer maternal or infant supplementation (50%) or maternal supplementation (37.5%) over infant supplementation (12.5%). Most (69.6%) preferred daily over monthly supplementation regimens. CONCLUSION: Family Medicine clinicians are knowledgeable regarding current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation in breastfeeding infants. They are also open to recommending maternal supplementation or offering parents a choice of maternal or infant vitamin supplementation.

Comparison of the effect of daily versus bolus dose maternal vitamin D3 supplementation on the 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 to 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 ratio.

OBJECTIVE: Supplementing lactating mothers with high doses of vitamin D3 can adequately meet vitamin D requirements of the breastfed infant. We compared the effect of bolus versus daily vitamin D3 dosing in lactating mothers on vitamin D3 catabolism. We hypothesized that catabolism of 25(OH)D3 to 24,25(OH)2D3 would be greater in the bolus than in the daily dose group. DESIGN, SETTING AND PATIENTS: Randomized controlled trial (clinicaltrials.govNCT01240265) in 40 lactating women. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects were randomized to receive vitamin D3 orally, either a single dose of 150,000IU or 5000IU daily for 28days. Vitamin D metabolites were measured in serum and breast milk at baseline, 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28days. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Temporal changes in the serum 24,25(OH)2D3/25(OH)D3 ratio. RESULTS: The concentration of serum 24,25(OH)2D3 was directly related to that of 25(OH)D in both groups (r2=0.63; p<0.001). The mean (±SD) 24,25(OH)2D3/25(OH)D3 ratio remained lower at all time points than baseline values in the daily dose group (0.093±0.024, 0.084±0.025, 0.083±0.024, 0.080±0.020, 0.081±0.023, 0.083±0.018 at baseline, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28days, respectively). In the single dose group, the increase in 24,25(OH)2D3 lagged behind that of 25(OH)D, but the 24,25(OH)2D3/25(OH)D3 values (0.098±0.032, 0.067±0.019, 0.081±0.017, 0.092±0.024, 0.103±0.020, 0.106±0.024, respectively) exceeded baseline values at 14 and 28days and were greater than the daily dose group at 14 and 28days (p=0.003). The 24,25(OH)2D3/25(OH)D3 ratio remained in the normal range with both dosing regimens. Greater breast milk vitamin D3 values in the single dose group were inversely associated with the 24,25(OH)2D3/25(OH)D3 ratio (r2=0.14, p<0.001), but not with daily dosing. CONCLUSIONS: After a 14-day lag, a single high dose of vitamin D led to greater production of 24,25(OH)2D3, presumably via induction of the 24-hydroxylase enzyme (CYP24A1), relative to the 25(OH)D3 value than did daily vitamin D supplementation, and this effect persisted for at least 28days after vitamin D administration. A daily dose of vitamin D may have more lasting effectiveness in increasing 25(OH)D3 with lesser diversion of 25(OH)D3 to 24,25(OH)2D3 than does larger bolus dosing.

Maternal Preferences for Vitamin D Supplementation in Breastfed Infants.

Daily vitamin D supplementation is recommended for breastfed infants, but alternative methods include enriching breast milk with vitamin D through maternal supplementation or intermittent high-dose vitamin D. We determined maternal preferences for vitamin D supplementation in 140 mothers with exclusively breastfed infants, and 44 who used both breast and formula milk. Only 101 (55%) supplemented their infants with vitamin D. One hundred sixty (88%) preferred supplementing themselves rather than their infants, and 102 (57%) preferred daily to monthly supplementation. Safety was most important in choosing a method of supplementation. Taking maternal preferences into consideration may improve adequate intakes of vitamin D in breastfed infants.

Future complexity of care tier affected by depression outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The inclusion of mental health issues in the evaluation of multimorbidity generally has been as the presence or absence of the condition rather than severity, complexity, or stage. The hypothesis for this study was that clinical outcome of the depression 6 months after enrollment into collaborative care management would have a role in predicting future complexity of care tier. METHODS: This study was a retrospective chart review of 1894 primary care patients who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder or dysthymia as of December 2012. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to test the independent associations between each variable and the odds of being included in the higher tiers (HT) group. RESULTS: Age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.022, confidence interval [CI] = 1.013-1.030, P < .001), female gender (OR = 1.380, CI = 1.020-1.868, P = .037), being married (OR = 0.730, CI = 0.563-0.947, P = .018), and the presence of comorbidities (1, OR = 1.986, CI = 1.485-2.656, P < .001; ≥ 2, OR = 4.678, CI = 3.242-6.750, P < .001) were independently associated with future HT levels. The presence of persistent depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) at 6 months conferred 2.280 (CI = 1.673-3.107, P < .001) times likely odds of HT level compared with clinical remission at 6 months. CONCLUSION: Patients with the diagnosis of major depression or dysthymia had greater odds of complex tier levels in the future, if depression was not treated to remission by 6 months. This study demonstrated the importance of the goal of significant improvement (ie, remission) of depression symptoms by 6 months (especially those older patients with more comorbidity) from entering into the higher complexity tiers.

Maternal vitamin D supplementation to improve the vitamin D status of breast-fed infants: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a single monthly supplement is as effective as a daily maternal supplement in increasing breast milk vitamin D to achieve vitamin D sufficiency in their infants. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty mothers with exclusively breast-fed infants were randomized to receive oral cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) 5000 IU/d for 28 days or 150,000 IU once. Maternal serum, breast milk, and urine were collected on days 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28; infant serum was obtained on days 0 and 28. Enrollment occurred between January 7, 2011, and July 29, 2011. RESULTS: In mothers given daily cholecalciferol, concentrations of serum and breast milk cholecalciferol attained steady levels of 18 and 8 ng/mL, respectively, from day 3 through 28. In mothers given the single dose, serum and breast milk cholecalciferol peaked at 160 and 40 ng/mL, respectively, at day 1 before rapidly declining. Maternal milk and serum cholecalciferol concentrations were related (r=0.87). Infant mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration increased from 17±13 to 39±6 ng/mL in the single-dose group and from 16±12 to 39±12 ng/mL in the daily-dose group (P=.88). All infants achieved serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations of more than 20 ng/mL. CONCLUSION: Either single-dose or daily-dose cholecalciferol supplementation of mothers provided breast milk concentrations that result in vitamin D sufficiency in breast-fed infants. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov NCT01240265.