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Opinion or narrative review

2012 review: low vitamin D blood levels linked to more respiratory infections in children

Bozzetto and colleagues · Allergy · 2012

Original title: Asthma, allergy and respiratory infections: the vitamin D hypothesis.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Studies show low vitamin D blood levels linked to higher risk of upper and lower respiratory infections in children. The authors call for controlled trials of supplements.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Opinion or narrative review
Who or what was studied
Children and adults with asthma, allergy or respiratory infections
What was tested
Review of studies on vitamin D and asthma, allergy and respiratory infections
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Allergy, 2012
Source
PubMed record 21933195. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • –An opinion or narrative review: no new data, and no set method for choosing which studies to discuss.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a opinion or narrative review, and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: colds, flu and chest infections

    10

    2 benefit, 8 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    5

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference, 1 harm

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    1

    1 no difference

  4. Population studies

    1

    1 no difference

  5. Blood levels and genes

    4

    3 benefit, 1 no difference

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does vitamin D prevent colds and infections?”

Not clearly; any effect looks small.

Confidence: low. Based on 33 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer
  • Marked as a key paper in the research timeline: 2012 review links low levels to infections, urges trials.

Other opinion on this question

See all 33 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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