(P11-013-23) The Seychelles Child Development Study of the Association Between Childhood Vitamin D Intake and Development of ADHD Phenotypes

Objectives: We examined the association between early childhood intake of vitamin D and concurrent and prospective presence of behavioral and emotional problems.

Methods: The Seychelles Child Development Study is a prospective, double-blind, longitudinal study of mother-infant pairs residing in the Republic of Seychelles. The Nutrition Cohort 1 consists of 300 consenting healthy pregnant women and their children, enrolled in 2001. Data from 229 children were available for this analysis. Emotional and behavioral problems were assessed with the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) at 5 and 9 years of age, including a total score and scores for ten subdomains. Vitamin D intake was estimated from a four-day weighed food diary collected when children were approximately 5 years old.  Parents and caregivers completed the records and average daily vitamin D intake was calculated as μg/d. Vitamin D intake was analyzed as a continuous and categorical variable. Multiple linear regression models examined the association between children’s vitamin D intake at 5 years old and behavioral outcomes at 5 and 9 years old, adjusting for child sex, birthweight, maternal IQ, Hollingshead socioeconomic status, and number of parents living with the child.

Results: The average vitamin D intake was 2.1 μg/day. The CBCL total score and scores in most subdomains were not significantly associated with childhood vitamin D intake in linear regression models. Nevertheless, vitamin D intake was statistically significantly associated with two CBCL subdomain scores: Thought at 9 years of age (beta=-0.972, SE = 0.338, P value = 0.004), Aggressive (beta=-0.780, SE=0.403, P value=0.053), and Externalizing behavior (beta=-0.913, SE= -0.913, P value=0.049) at 5 years of age.

Conclusions: We did not find clear associations between children’s estimated vitamin D intake and the presence of emotional and behavioral problems. Childhood vitamin D intake may have been underestimated because of limitations in the available food composition tables and does not reflect biological vitamin D status, particularly in populations with high sun exposure (the main source of vitamin D). Future studies should assess associations between vitamin D status and child outcomes.

Funding Sources: R01 ES010219 and R24 ES029466