Cord Blood Vitamin D Levels and Early Childhood Blood Pressure: The Healthy Start Study

Background Vitamin D deficiency is associated with cardiovascular events among adults, but it is unclear whether early-life vitamin D deficiency influences cardiovascular risk factors in children. Methods and Results We measured total and bioavailable 25-dihydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) in cord blood and in blood from 4- to 6-year-old children, and we assessed cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, arterial stiffness, body size, and adiposity) at 4 to 6 years. We tested for racial/ethnic differences in total and bioavailable 25OHD (n=715) and modeled the adjusted association between cord blood 25OHD and childhood cardiovascular risk factors (n=171). We observed racial/ethnic differences in total and bioavailable 25OHD levels in both cord and child blood samples (all P