Publications

Introduction: There is widespread prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Indian postmenopausal women. However, there is limited information of the vitamin D status in apparently healthy Indian women of reproductive age group. Objective: 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. Methods: 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 of St John’s Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore. These subjects, who were divided in three groups: Premenopausal (21-45years), Menopausal (46-55years) and Postmenopausal (>55 years) age groups, underwent anthropometric measurements, and biochemical evaluation for vitamin D status along with a questionnaire to identify the sociodemographic factors. Descriptive statistics was carried out in the present study. Results: Hypovitaminosis D was identified among all the subjects included in the study with a mean serum 25(OH) total vitamin D level (ng/ml) of 13.8 5.4 S.D (95% confidence interval: 7.0 ng/ml – 26.8 ng/ml). Out of all the subjects, 17.6% were vitamin D insufficient (20.0 –<30.0 ng/ml), 56.8% were vitamin D deficient (<20.0 ng/ml) and 25.7% were moderately vitamin D deficient (<10 ng/ml). 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. Conclusion: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the study population was 100% across the different age groups, despite the abundant sunshine in India. To clearly state the enormity of Vitamin D deficiency status in India continued research and epidemiological investigations are required.