Journal article
Gestational vitamin D concentration and child cognitive development: A longitudinal cohort study in the ECHO Program
The American journal of clinical nutrition, v 122(2), Forthcoming
23 Jun 2025
PMID: 40562362
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Low vitamin D levels are common - especially among those with darker pigmented skin - and are frequently observed during pregnancy. Given its important role in brain development, inadequate gestational vitamin D may impair child cognitive development.
We aimed to evaluate associations of gestational vitamin D concentrations with childhood cognitive scores, explore whether this relationship differs by self-reported race, and examine sensitive exposure windows within pregnancy.
This prospective cohort study included 912 mother-child dyads (37.3% Black, 52.3% White) from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes program. 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations were measured in prenatal or cord blood collected between 4-42 weeks gestation (median: 23). Children's cognition was assessed at ages 7-12 years using the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery. Relationships of 25(OH)D and cognitive scores were examined using mixed effects linear models adjusted for confounders. Potential sensitive periods were explored by estimating population 25(OH)D patterns across gestation for varying levels of the cognitive outcomes.
Mean gestational 25(OH)D was 23.8 ng/mL (SD: 10.0). Each 10 ng/mL increase was associated with greater overall (β = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.08, 2.14) and fluid cognition scores (1.21 (0.07, 2.34)), but not crystallized cognition. Although these associations were not significantly modified by self-reported race, associations appeared stronger in children of Black mothers (2.99 (0.82, 5.16)) than non-Black mothers (0.43 (-0.93, 1.78)) for fluid cognition. Early pregnancy may be a critical exposure period, evidenced by the greatest divergence in the pattern of 25(OH)D during this period between the mothers of children in the 90
versus 10
percentiles of cognitive outcomes.
Gestational 25(OH)D concentrations were positively associated with cognitive scores, especially in children of Black mothers. Given higher deficiency risk among Black women, vitamin D repletion prior to or in early pregnancy may be an important strategy for reducing racial disparities in child neurodevelopment.
Metrics
16 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Gestational vitamin D concentration and child cognitive development: A longitudinal cohort study in the ECHO Program
- Creators
- Melissa M Melough - University of DelawareMonica McGrath - Johns Hopkins UniversityMeredith Palmore - Johns Hopkins UniversityBrent R Collett - Seattle Children's HospitalJean M Kerver - Michigan State UniversityChristine W Hockett - University of South DakotaRebecca J Schmidt - Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California at Davis, Davis, CARachel S Kelly - Brigham and Women's HospitalKristen Lyall - Drexel UniversityQi Zhao - University of Tennessee Health Science CenterAlison E Hipwell - University of PittsburghSusan A Korrick - Brigham and Women's HospitalDiane Gilbert-Diamond - Dartmouth CollegeScott T Weiss - Brigham and Women's HospitalSu H Chu - Brigham and Women's HospitalHooman Mirzakhani - Brigham and Women's HospitalJennifer M Porter - University of LouisvilleSheela Sathyanarayana - University of Washingtonfor the ECHO Cohort Consortium
- Publication Details
- The American journal of clinical nutrition, v 122(2), Forthcoming
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 11
- Grant note
- NIHECHO Data Analysis Center
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Research reported in this publication was supported by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of the Director, NIH, under the following award numbers: U2COD023375 (Coordinating Center) , U24OD023382 (Data Analysis Center) , U24OD023319 with co-funding from the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (Measurement Core) , U24OD035523 (Lab Core) , ES0266542 (HHEAR) , U24ES026539 (HHEAR Barbara O'Brien) , U2CES026533 (HHEAR Lisa Peterson) , U2CES026542 (HHEAR Patrick Parsons, Kannan Kurunthacalam) , U2CES030859 (HHEAR Manish Arora) , U2CES030857 (HHEAR Timothy R. Fennell, Susan J. Sumner, Xiuxia Du) , U2CES026555 (HHEAR Susan L. Teitelbaum) , U2CES026561 (HHEAR Robert O. Wright) , U2CES030851 (HHEAR Heather M. Stapleton, P. Lee Ferguson) , UG3/UH3OD023251 (Akram Alshawabkeh) , UH3OD023320 and UG3OD035546 (Judy Aschner) , UH3OD023332 (Clancy Blair, Leonardo Trasande) , UG3/UH3OD023253 (Carlos Camargo) , UG3/UH3OD023248 and UG3OD035526 (Dana Dabelea) , UG3/UH3OD023313 (Daphne Koinis Mitchell) , UH3OD023328 (Cristiane Duarte) , UH3OD023318 (Anne Dunlop) , UG3/UH3OD023279 (Amy Elliott) , UG3/UH3OD023289 (Assiamira Ferrara) , UG3/UH3OD023282 (James Gern) , UH3OD023287 (Carrie Breton) , UG3/UH3OD023365 (Irva Hertz-Picciotto) , UG3/UH3OD023244 (Alison Hipwell) , UG3/UH3OD023275 (Margaret Karagas) , UH3OD023271 and UG3OD035528 (Catherine Karr) , UH3OD023347 (Barry Lester) , UG3/UH3OD023389 (Leslie Leve) , UG3/UH3OD023344 (Debra MacKenzie) , UH3OD023268 (Scott Weiss) , UG3/UH3OD023288 (Cynthia McEvoy) , UG3/UH3OD023342 (Kristen Lyall) , UG3/UH3OD023349 (Thomas O'Connor) , UH3OD023286 and UG3OD035533 (Emily Oken) , UG3/UH3OD023348 (Mike O'Shea) , UG3/UH3OD023285 (Jean Kerver) , UG3/UH3OD023290 (Julie Herbstman) , UG3/UH3OD023272 (Susan Schantz) , UG3/UH3OD023249 (Joseph Stanford) , UG3/UH3OD023305 (Leonardo Trasande) , UG3/UH3OD023337 (Rosalind Wright) , UG3OD035508 (Sheela Sathyanarayana) , UG3OD035509 (Anne Marie Singh) , UG3OD035513 and UG3OD035532 (Annemarie Stroustrup) , UG3OD035516 and UG3OD035517 (Tina Hartert) , UG3OD035518 (Jennifer Straughen) , UG3OD035519 (Qi Zhao) , UG3OD035521 (Katherine Rivera-Spoljaric) , UG3OD035527 (Emily S Barrett) , UG3OD035540 (Monique Marie Hedderson) , UG3OD035543 (Kelly J Hunt) , UG3OD035537 (Sunni L Mumford) , UG3OD035529 (Hong-Ngoc Nguyen) , UG3OD035542 (Hudson Santos) , UG3OD035550 (Rebecca Schmidt) , UG3OD035536 (Jonathan Slaughter) , and UG3OD035544 (Kristina Whitworth) . The sponsor, NIH, participated in the overall design and implementation of the ECHO Program, which was funded as a cooperative agreement between NIH and grant awardees. The sponsor approved the Steering Committee-developed ECHO protocol and its amendments including COVID-19 measures. The sponsor had no access to the central database, which was housed at the ECHO Data Analysis Center. Data management and site monitoring were performed by the ECHO Data Analysis Center and Coordinating Center. All analyses for scientific publication were performed by the study statistician, independently of the sponsor. The lead author wrote all drafts of the manuscript and made revisions based on co-authors and the ECHO Publication Committee (a subcommittee of the ECHO Operations Committee) feedback without input from the sponsor. The study sponsor did not review or approve the manuscript for submission to the journal.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001546287400023
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105010468867
- Other Identifier
- 991022060154204721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Nutrition & Dietetics