Open AccessThe effect of tailor‐made information on vitamin D status of immigrant mothers in Norway: a cluster randomized controlled trial
Author(s) -
Madar Ahmed A.,
Klepp KnutInge,
Meyer Haakon E.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
maternal and child nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1740-8709
pISSN - 1740-8695
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-8709.2009.00238.x
Subject(s) - medicine , vitamin d and neurology , confidence interval , randomized controlled trial , vitamin d deficiency , pediatrics , ethnic group , somali , immigration , cluster randomised controlled trial , demography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , sociology , anthropology , history
A high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has been reported in non‐Western immigrants in Norway. Our objective was to test whether written information about how to improve vitamin D status could improve the vitamin D status in immigrants mothers attending child health clinics. In this cluster randomized controlled trial in eight child health clinics in Oslo, mothers aged 18–43 years with Pakistani, Turkish, or Somali background were included when their infants were 6 weeks old. The public health nurses gave the intervention group a brochure with information on how to improve vitamin D status, written in their native language. They were compared with a control group receiving usual care, consisting of oral information only. The principal outcome measure was increase in serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D [s‐25(OH) D] in mothers 7 weeks later. Forty‐four mothers completed the study. Mean baseline s‐25(OH) D was 29.1 (14.8) nmol l −1 in the intervention and 19.4 (9.2) in the control group. There was no significant increase in s‐25(OH) D from baseline to follow‐up in the intervention [6.3 (95%CI: −1.9, 14.4) nmol l −1 )] or in the control group [2.9 (95% CI [confidence interval]: −1.2, 7.0) nmol l −1 ]. When adjusting for baseline s‐25(OH) D concentration the mean difference in increase between the intervention and control group was 1.4 (95% CI: −18.7, 21.4) nmol l −1 ( P = 0.87). Adjustment for ethnicity, season and mother's educational background did not alter the results. In sum, providing immigrant mothers with written information about how to improve their vitamin D status did not have an effect on the mothers' vitamin D status.