Mandating vitamin K prophylaxis for newborns in New York State

Vitamin K supplementation to prevent hemorrhagic morbidity and mortality of newborns in India and China

BACKGROUND

Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) can cause prolonged and bleeding (intracranial hemorrhage) among newborns, which can be life-threatening or lead to long-term morbidity. The aim of this review article is to reiterate empirical evidence to support the argument that vitamin K should be mandatory for newborns in India and China, as well as in other countries with a high burden of neonatal deaths.

DATA SOURCES

Studies were integrated from the PubMed/MEDLINE database search, as well as related literature available elsewhere.

RESULTS

Both India and China have been slow in adopting an effective program for administering vitamin K injections to newborns to prevent VKDB-related morbidity and mortality. VKDB cases in China and India have shown inadequate attention to routine use of vitamin K by injection.

CONCLUSIONS

While no reliable data are publicly available, the issue of VKDB is at last receiving some attention from the Chinese public health system as well as the Indian government. In both countries, routine vitamin K administration to newborns would prove to be a cost-effective intervention to reduce preventable neonatal morbidity and mortality. VKDB is a global neonatal care issue, including countries where parental resistance is preventing babies from defense against this life-threatening condition.

Vitamin K nutrition, metabolism, and requirements: current concepts and future research

In 2001, the US Food and Nutrition Board concluded that there were insufficient data with which to establish a RDA for vitamin K, in large part because of a lack of robust endpoints that reflected adequacy of intake. Knowledge of the relative bioavailability of multiple vitamin K forms was also poor. Since then, stable isotope methodologies have been applied to the assessment of the bioavailability of the major dietary form of vitamin K in its free state and when incorporated into a plant matrix. There is a need for stable isotope studies with enhanced sensitivity to expand knowledge of the bioavailability, absorption, disposition, and metabolism of different molecular forms of vitamin K. Another area for future research stems from evidence that common polymorphisms or haplotypes in certain key genes implicated in vitamin K metabolism might affect nutritional requirements. Thus far, much of this evidence is indirect via effects on warfarin dose requirements. In terms of clinical endpoints, vitamin K deficiency in early infancy continues to be a leading cause of intracranial bleeding even in developed countries and the reasons for its higher prevalence in certain Asian countries has not been solved. There is universal consensus for the need for vitamin K prophylaxis in newborns, but the effectiveness of any vitamin K prophylactic regimen needs to be based on sound nutritional principles. In contrast, there is still a lack of suitable biomarkers or clinical endpoints that can be used to determine vitamin K requirements among adults.

Controversies surrounding the administration of vitamin K to newborns: a review

OBJECTIVE

To determine (1) the most effective method of administering vitamin K to infants to prevent hemorrhagic disease of the newborn (HDNB) and (2) the safest method, in light of preliminary evidence suggesting that intramuscular administration of vitamin K is associated with childhood cancer.

DATA SOURCES

A MEDLINE search of articles published between Jan. 1, 1991, and Apr. 30, 1994, with the use of MeSH terms "hemorrhagic disease of the newborn", articles were limited to those involving human subjects, from birth to adolescence, and to articles from journals indexed through Index Medicus and written in English. References of all articles found through the initial search, the earliest of which was published in 1967, were also reviewed.

STUDY SELECTION

Six controlled trials met the selection criteria: a minimum 4-week follow-up period, a minimum of 60 subjects and a comparison of oral and intramuscular administration or of regimens of single and multiple doses taken orally. All retrospective case reviews were evaluated. Because of its thoroughness, the authors selected a meta-analysis of almost all cases involving patients more than 7 days old published from 1967 to 1992. Only five studies that concerned safety were found, and all of these were reviewed.

DATA EXTRACTION

In controlled trials, the risk of HDNB caused by vitamin K deficiency among infants receiving different regimens of vitamin K; in case studies, method of vitamin K administration and incidence of hemorrhagic disease; and in studies concerning safety, odds ratios and relative risks of childhood cancer following intramuscular administration of vitamin K.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Vitamin K (1 mg, administered intramuscularly) is currently the most effective method of preventing HDNB. The previously reported relation between intramuscular administration of vitamin K and childhood cancer has not been substantiated. An oral regimen (three doses of 1 to 2 mg, the first given at the first feeding, the second at 2 to 4 weeks and the third at 8 weeks) may be an acceptable alternative but needs further testing in large clinical trials.

CONCLUSION

There is no compelling evidence to alter the current practice of administering vitamin K intramuscularly to newborns.

Current concepts and controversies in the use of vitamin K

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin crucial to the production of many proteins involved with the coagulation process. It is integral in the synthesis of coagulants (factors II, VII, IX and X) and anticoagulants (proteins C and S). It is generally recognised that routine administration of vitamin K (phytomenadione) shortly after birth will prevent major neonatal morbidity and mortality related to haemorrhage. Vitamin K supplementation during pregnancy is also recommended if mothers are on anticonvulsant therapy or prolonged treatment with certain antibiotics. These medications, if ingested by pregnant women, predispose the neonate to a bleeding tendency caused by vitamin K deficiency. Vitamin K treatment of pregnant mothers before premature delivery has also been suggested to reduce the incidence of severe intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) in premature neonates. Although further studies are pending, the data to date do not support using antenatal vitamin K for preventing ICH.