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Aetiology

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Body sources of vitamin K are low. Deficiency may develop within one week. The causes are those factors which interfere with the normal sources of the vitamin: (1)

  • poor diet or starvation
  • malabsorption - especially due to bile salt deficiency
  • primary liver disease
  • broad spectrum antibiotics - suppress normal colonic flora; commonly occurs post-operatively
  • premature birth: due to the absence of bacteria in the gut which normally synthesize vitamin K2 in adults (2)

References

  1. Marchili MR et al. Vitamin K deficiency: a case report and review of current guidelines. Ital J Pediatr. 2018 Mar 14;44(1):36
  2. Ardell S et al. Prophylactic vitamin K for the prevention of vitamin K deficiency bleeding in preterm neonates. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Feb 5;2(2):CD008342.

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