Abstract

A STUDY ON VITAMIN D STATUS AMONG APPARENTLY HEALTHY WOMEN ABOVE 20 YEARS OF AGE ATTENDING A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN BANGALORE

R. Reshma*, D. Anitha and MJ. Saji

Abstract

There is widespread prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Indian women. This study was done to estimate the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency among apparently healthy women aged 20 years and above attending a tertiary care hospital and to study the association of low vitamin D levels with biochemical and socio-demographic parameters. The descriptive study was carried out in 74 apparently healthy women subjects above 20 years of age who were selected randomly from health plan clinic and were divided in to premenopausal, menopausal and postmenopausal age groups, underwent anthropometric measurements, and biochemical evaluation for vitamin D status along with a questionnaire to identify the sociodemographic factors. Descriptive statistics was used. Hypovitaminosis D was identified among all the study subjects with a mean serum 25(OH) total vitamin D level (ng/ml) of 13.8 5.4 S.D (95% CI: 7.0– 26.8 ng/ml). Out of all the subjects, 17.6% were vitamin D insufficient, 56.8% were vitamin D deficient and 25.7% were severely vitamin D deficient. The serum 25(OH) D levels showed a negative correlation with serum PTH levels, but was not statistically significant (p> 0.05, r = - 0.548), more than 50% of subjects with severe Vitamin D deficiency had PTH levels within normal range. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the study population was 100% across the different age groups, despite the abundant sunshine in India. Continued research and epidemiological studies are required, to clearly state the enormity of the Vitamin D deficiency status and its health implications.

Keywords: 25(OH) D = 25-hydroxyvitamin D; PTH = Parathyroid hormone.