D-tecting disease - from exposure to vitamin D during critical periods of life (D tect)

25.01.2016

Summary

Vitamin D deficiency is common among otherwise healthy pregnant women and may have consequences for them as well as the early development and long-term health of their children. The importance of maternal and neonatal vitamin D status on later health has not been widely studied. The D-tect is a project financed by the Danish Council for Strategic research, comprising a battery of observational studies on associations between exposure to/status of vitamin D early in life and risk of various diseases later in life. All the studies use data from the Danish National registers. The fact that mandatory fortification of margarine with vitamin D in Denmark was cancelled in 1985, and thus, children born before and after 1985 differed by prenatal exposure to extra vitamin D, is utilized. Additionally, neonatal vitamin D status is measured using dried blood spots (PKU cards) kept in the The Danish Newborn Screening Biobank.

Homepage: www.d-tectingdisease.dk 

Investigators

D-tect is coordinated at The Parker Institute. The coordination group consists of: • Principle Investigator – Professor Berit L Heitmann, PhD • Statistician – Peder Frederiksen, MSc • Postdoc – Ramune Jacobsen, PhD • PhD Student – Camilla Bjørn Jensen, MSc • PhD Student – Mina Nicole Händel, MSc • PhD Student – Maria Stougaard, MSc • PhD Student – Amélie Cléo Keller, MSc • Research assistant – Fanney Þorsteinsdóttir, MSc • Senior researcher – Joachim Knop, MD, Dr. Med. Sci.

Protocol