ABSTRACT
Purpose: This introductory study aims to analyze the association of serum vitamin D3 levels with recently detected myopia in Indian children following home confinement post?COVID?19 pandemic. Methods: Children aged 5–15 years who had not attended physical school in the past 1 year and visited the ophthalmology department with various ocular symptoms were divided into two groups: the myopic group with recently detected myopia and the non?myopic group with ocular ailments other than myopia. All children underwent basic ophthalmic evaluation and a general physical examination. Blood samples were collected for serum vitamin D3 levels. A pretested questionnaire inquiring about the duration of exposure to a digital screen, outdoor activities, and socioeconomic status was filled out for all children. Results: The mean serum vitamin D3 level in the myopic group was 28.17 ± 15.02 ng/dl in comparison to 45.36 ± 17.56 ng/dl in the non?myopic group (P value < 0.05). Linear regression of the data establishes that myopia is associated with hypovitaminosis D3 (OR? 13.12, 95% CI 2.90–50.32, a P value of 0.001). The correlation between spherical equivalent and vitamin D3 levels was significant (Pearson correlation value: 0.661). In the myopic group, 63.3% of children had screen use >6 hours against 43.3% of children in the non?myopic group. In the myopic group, 33.3% of the children had an outdoor activity duration of <2 hours against 6.6% of children in the non?myopic group. Conclusion: This study proposes hypovitaminosis D3 as a strong factor associated with the development of myopia in children. Although it is a preliminary study, it suggests that the trial for vitamin D3 supplementation in young children to delay or cease the development of myopia is warranted.
ABSTRACT
Background: Total thyroidectomy (TT) is a commonly performed procedure for various thyroid disorders, with parathyroid insufficiency manifesting as hypocalcaemia being a well-known complication. Albeit, vitamin D is well implicated in calcium homeostasis, the association between hypovitaminosis D and postoperative hypocalcaemia is yet to be concluded. The aim of our study is to evaluate the correlation of preoperative serum vitamin D3 levels with occurrence of post-operative hypocalcemia in patients undergoing TT.Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 50 patients undergoing TT for benign thyroid diseases from November 2016 to May 2018. Pre-operative vitamin D3 levels were estimated. Serum calcium levels was measured pre‑ and post‑operatively at 24hours, 1st week and 4th week. Serum calcium level ≤8.5 mg/dl was considered as biochemical hypocalcemia. A data of demographic, clinical, biochemical and intraoperative findings were documented and analysed.Results: Statically 14 (28%) patients developed symptomatic hypocalcemia. Out of these, 11 (78.5%) patients had preoperative vitamin D levels of <30 ng/dl (p=0.034). 24 hours postoperative serum calcium level was significantly lesser in patients with lower preoperative vitamin D levels (p=0.015), suggesting that postoperative hypocalcemia (24 hr) is statistically related to pre-operative vitamin D3 levels.Conclusions: It could be concluded from our study that preoperative serum vitamin D3 levels can predict post-operative occurrence of symptomatic and/or biochemical hypocalcemia. Thus, it could be hypothesized that supplementing vitamin D preoperatively could curb the incidence of hypocalcaemia following TT. However, further relevant trials are needed to attest to this.