Sample Size and Asthma

¶ … Vitamin D and Asthmatic Children

USE OF VITAMIN D. AND ASTHMATIC CHILDREN

Literature Review & Synthesis

• Vitamin D has an acute influence on the occurrence of asthma in children. Trollvik et al. (2016) indicate that the fear of living with asthma is devastating for many kids. Yadav and Mittal (2016) indicate that vitamin D has a great significance in the management of persistent bronchial asthma in children. Tachimoto et al. (2016) conclude that involvement of standard treatment and low-dose of vitamin D lowers the occurrences and influences of asthma in children. Moreover, Somashekar et al. (2014) indicate that the deficiency of vitamin D is common in children with asthma just as its association with airway limitation. In all the literary pieces, the fear for asthma in children gives them memories that serve o indicate their state of well-being while living with asthma (Somashekar et al. 2014).

• There are no common disagreements within the literary activities in the articles.

• Tachimoto et al. (2016) indicated no conflicts of interest in the research process and results together with the conclusions. Nonetheless, the results had to be stopped at some point by the interim analysis. The sample size used was too small and hence could not be legible in calculating the interactions within predefined subgroups. The study used only one level of vitamin D supplement was used to make comparisons with placebo. The period of observation was only six months, and hence long-term effects were not conclusive. Yadav and Mittal (2016) indicated no conflict of interest. A high number of patients were used to make comparisons of supplements with placebo. With the use of a high number of patients, the role of vitamin D in asthma was more defined in this study. In Trollvik et al. (2016), the common strengths were that the life-world of children as its starting point. The on weakness is that a home environment perspective has been used to describe few episodes, as there was no focus on the universal environment. The study used different strategies and methods posed strength in the study. In Somashekar et al. (2014) there was a strong relation of airway limitation and compromised lung function and 25 (OH) D. level (Somashekar et al. 2014). Nonetheless, one weakness is that it was not easy to establish a direct methodical link between asthma in children and vitamin D deficiency. The study used a small sample size. The cross-sectional design was hence limiting the ability of the study to establish a causal link between asthma morbidity and vitamin D.

• A few gaps in the literature are evident. Somashekar et al. (2014) could not establish a direct relation between vitamin D and asthma morbidity (Somashekar et al. 2014). This was a common occurrence in most studies. The use of a small number of patients limited a diversified level of results when it came to making conclusions. Moreover, the period of study is shorter and hence cannot cover for the long-term results. Further studies need to be done using more patients, using more time, and with a larger field of conclusiveness to be attained by the studies.