Suplementação de vitamina D e prevenção de doenças respiratórias em crianças: uma revisão integrativa.

Abstract

Vitamin D is a hormone produced naturally in the skin, and obtained through food, which participates in several biological processes. However, the general population has a low serum status. As this disorder being considered as pandemic, several studies have emerged showing an association between low serum status of vitamin D and the respiratory tract diseases in childhood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of vitamin D supplementation in children in order to prevent respiratory tract diseases. This study is an integrative review, which consists of constructing a broad analysis of the literature, using the PICO strategy to obtain the guiding question, and carrying out research in the Pubmed, Scopus and BIREME databases, from 2011 to 2021, using the keywords: “vitamin D”, “respiratory tract diseases” and “children”. Of the total of 70 articles selected, 10 articles were chosen for the final analysis, 3 of which were developed in European countries, another 3 in countries on the Asian continent, 2 in North America, 1 in Africa and 1 in South America, with the corresponding period from 2011 to 2021. The results were categorized into studies that demonstrated the correlation between the prevalence of children with hypovitaminosis D and the presence of respiratory diseases, and how supplementation could improve or prevent infections in children. It was seen that in groups where there was some respiratory disease, there were a greater number of children with low serum concentrations of vitamin D. It was also seen that supplementation could help reduce cases of recurrent respiratory infections, and improve the clinical picture in some types of respiratory disorders. It was possible to conclude after this study, that supplementation as a form of treatment for respiratory diseases does not have the necessary statistical data to be recommended, however, long-term supplementation can help reduce the appearance of respiratory diseases and mitigate relapses in children.