Vitamin D Supplementation for the Treatment of Acute Childhood Pneumonia: A Systematic Review

Table 1

Characteristics of included studies.

Study	Setting	Participants	Intervention	Outcomes measured	Comments
Manaseki-Holland et al. [12]	Outpatient of inner-city hospital, Afghanistan.	[Vitamin D = 224, placebo = 229].; Age 1–36 months with acute pneumonia.	A single 100,000 unit of oral vitamin D3 at onset of pneumonia.	Time to resolution of pneumonia/recovery for 48 consecutive hours, treatment failure, and discharge from hospital.	Children with wheezing were excluded. No adverse effects noted. Microbiological and/or radiological diagnosis not done. Serum vitamin D3 level was not measured.
Choudhary and Gupta [13]	Inpatient of a tertiary care hospital, India.	[Vitamin D = 100, placebo = 100].; Age 2 months–5 years hospitalized with severe pneumonia.	Oral vitamin D3 (1000 IU for <1 year and 2000 IU for >1 year) for 5 days.	Primary: time to resolution of severe pneumonia (absence of lower chest indrawing, hypoxia or cyanosis, lethargy, and inability to feed).; Secondary: duration of hospitalization and time to resolution of tachypnea, chest retractions, and inability to feed.	Sixty-three children had past history of pneumonia. Five children had clinical evidence of rickets. One-third of children had wheezing at enrollment. No major adverse effects noted. Microbiological and/or radiological diagnosis not done. Serum vitamin D3 level was not measured.