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Abstract The aim of this work is to assess level of vitamin D in critically ill children and to reveal risk factors for its deficiency if present. Method: Analytic case control study comparing (OH)vit D levels measured in patients during the hours after critical care admission with the (OH) vit D levels of healthy children. Results: Median (OH) vit D level was ng/ml ( - )in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients vs. ng/ml ( - )in healthy children (p = ). The prevalence of (OH) vit D deficiency (< ng/ml) was % and in PICU patients % in healthy children (p = ). Lack of vitamin D supplementation and sun exposure are strongly related to vitamin D deficiency. (p value > ). There is negative correlation between vitamin D and age and weight p value and respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis shows that sun exposure was the only statistically significant predictor of vitamin D deficiency in the study population (OR = with P-value < ). Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency is common among pediatric patients admitted to PICU. Lack of sun exposure and lack of vitamin D supplementation are significant risk factors of vitamin D deficiency in the study population .Vitamin D deficiency are common in older children. Our study results could be taken into account for designing interventional studies to study the outcomes of supplementation. |