Interventions to improve vitamin D status in at-risk ethnic groups during pregnancy and early childhood - a systematic review.

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title> <jats:sec id="S1368980021000756_as1"> <jats:title>Objective</jats:title> <jats:p>Systematically review the literature with the primary aim of identifying behavioural interventions to improve vitamin D stores in children from at-risk ethnic groups.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="S1368980021000756_as2"> <jats:title>Design</jats:title> <jats:p>Review based on PRISMA guidelines. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42017080932. Health Behaviour model and Behaviour Change Wheel Framework constructs used to underpin evaluation of interventions. Methodological quality evaluated using Cochrane Risk of Bias, Cochrane ROBINS-I, and NHLBI tools.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="S1368980021000756_as3"> <jats:title>Setting</jats:title> <jats:p>Databases Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL with secondary search of Google Scholar. No country limits set. Papers between 1990-February 2018, published in English included. Anticipating study heterogeneity, outcome measures not pre-specified and identified from individual full papers. Updated literature search November 2020.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="S1368980021000756_as4"> <jats:title>Participants</jats:title> <jats:p>Patient or population including pregnant women, new-borns and children aged under 18 years, from Asian or African ethnic groups.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="S1368980021000756_as5"> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>Of 10,690 articles screened, 298 underwent full text review, with 24 ultimately included for data extraction. All identified studies conducted a vitamin D pharmacological supplementation intervention, with two also incorporating a behavioural intervention strategy. No study explicitly defined a primary aim of evaluating a behavioural intervention, undertaken to study its effect on Vitamin D supplement uptake.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="S1368980021000756_as6"> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> <jats:p>There is a need to address the paucity of data in ethnic at-risk children on how behavioural interventions, ideally developed and co-produced with the community under study, affect and help improve Vitamin D uptake, within the ante-natal and pregnancy phase as well as during childhood.</jats:p> </jats:sec>