Parathyroid-Vitamin D Axis Dysregulation in Early-Onset Infant Stunting in Resource-Poor Settings

Daniel Roth of the Hospital for Sick Kids in Canada and colleagues will test whether endocrine factors cause stunting in early infancy. They will analyze parathyroid hyperactivity in a cohort of infants from Bangladesh, where stunting is estimated to affect almost half of all children under the age of 5. To uncover the mechanisms responsible for this hyperactivity, they will conduct a vitamin D supplementation trial and analyze maternal, cord, and infant plasma specimens for evidence of dysregulation of the parathyroid-vitamin D axis. Their goal is to understand the cause of widespread vitamin D deficiency in the region, which is under-appreciated, and its linkage to early growth retardation.