Toddlers who wet the bed may have an insufficiency and deficiency in vitamins D and B12.
- In enuretic children, vitamin D deficiency predominates (48.3%).
- A vitamin B12 deficiency is also observed in 25% of toddlers who wet the bed.
- These deficiencies could be considered as a burden for the clinical severity of enuresis.
Wetting the bed is common among children. This is called enuresis. In general, they empty their bladder completely, during their sleep, without being awakened by the need to urinate and therefore do not realize it. During the day, urination is normal. According to Health Insurancethis bladder control disorder occurs in children at an age when control of the sphincters is acquired, that is to say after the age of five.
Vitamin D deficiency in 48% of enuretic children
Recently, researchers from Cairo University (Egypt) revealed that low levels of vitamin D and B12 can be detected in toddlers suffering from bedwetting. In order to reach this conclusion, they carried out a study during which they wanted to define the prevalence of vitamin D and B12 deficiencies in enuretic children. For the purposes of the work, the team recruited 288 children seen in outpatient clinics for nocturnal enuresis. “Sociodemographic and clinical data were recorded. Vitamin D and vitamin B12 levels were assessed and correlated with the severity of enuresis”she clarified.
According to the results, published in the journal Annals of Medicinevitamin D insufficiency predominated (48.3%), while vitamin D deficiency was present in 31.3% of cases. Vitamin B12 deficiency was observed in 25% of young patients. “Vitamin D showed a stronger inverse correlation with the number of bedwetting episodes per day than vitamin B12”we can read in the research. A threshold of 13.7 ng/ml for vitamin D was identified, below which absence of dry nights was predicted. Protective factors for freedom from dry nights were higher vitamin D levels and coexistence of behavioral treatments.
Using vitamin D and B12 “as potential adjuvant therapies” for patients
“Vitamin D insufficiency may be the most common abnormality in enuretic children. It may be more common in toddlers with severe enuresis than vitamin B12 deficiency. This study may prompt further research to examine the possible use of vitamin D and vitamin B12 as potential adjuvant therapies for affected children”, the authors concluded.
