{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,2]],"date-time":"2025-11-02T09:52:51Z","timestamp":1762077171049,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,1]],"date-time":"2022-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1669852800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is a global health issue: an association has been demonstrated between vitamin D deficiency and a myriad of acute and chronic illnesses. Data regarding vitamin D status among children hospitalized with non-critical illnesses are scanty. We aimed to: (1) identify profiles of children hospitalized due to non-critical illnesses, using vitamin D levels as the driving outcome; (2) assess the association between patient profiles and length of stay. The study included 854 patients (1\u201317 years old) who underwent blood tests for detecting vitamin D levels. A regression tree was used to stratify patients. The relationship between vitamin D levels and length of stay was explored using Poisson regression. The regression tree identified three subgroups. Group A (16%): African, North African, Hispanic, and Indian patients. Group B (62%): Caucasian and Asian patients hospitalized for respiratory, metabolic, ill-defined, infective, and genitourinary diseases. Group C (22%): Caucasian and Asian patients hospitalized for digestive, nervous, and musculoskeletal diseases, blood and skin diseases, and injuries. Mean serum vitamin D level (ng\/mL) was 13.7 (SD = 9.4) in Group A, 20.5 (10.0) in Group B, and 26.2 (12.6) in Group C. Group B was associated with the highest BMI z-score (p &lt; 0.001) and the highest frequency of preterm births (p = 0.041). Mean length of stay was longer in Group A than in the other groups (p &lt; 0.001) and decreased significantly by 9.8% (p = 0.024) in Group A and by 5% (p = 0.029) in Group B per 10 ng\/mL increase in vitamin D level. We identified three subgroups of hospitalized children, defined according to ethnicity and discharge diagnosis, and characterized by increasing vitamin D levels. Vitamin D levels were associated with length of hospitalization.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm11237157","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,2]],"date-time":"2022-12-02T03:00:36Z","timestamp":1669950036000},"page":"7157","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Vitamin D and Healthcare Service Utilization in Children: Insights from a Machine Learning Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Giuliana","family":"Ferrante","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Pediatrics and Gynaecology, Pediatric Division, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5378-5505","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Salvatore","family":"Fasola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Translational Pharmacology, National Research Council, 90146 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7746-8267","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michele","family":"Piazza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Pediatrics and Gynaecology, Pediatric Division, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laura","family":"Tenero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AOUI Verona\u2014Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata of Verona, University of Verona, 37126 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8659-5505","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"Zaffanello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Pediatrics and Gynaecology, Pediatric Division, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8026-0715","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefania","family":"La Grutta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Translational Pharmacology, National Research Council, 90146 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giorgio","family":"Piacentini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Pediatrics and Gynaecology, Pediatric Division, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.4065\/mcp.2010.0567","article-title":"Vitamin D insufficiency","volume":"86","author":"Thacher","year":"2011","journal-title":"Mayo Clin. 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