RESUMO
Background: Vitamin D deficiency is now documented as pandemic. It has been estimated that 1 billion people worldwide have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency and Pakistan, is not an exception
Objective: The objective of present study was to determine the frequency and risk factors for vitamin D deficiency among patient attending out patients department
Patients and Methods: This was a cross sectional study, conducted from 1[st] July to 31[st] December, 2013 in the outpatient department of Sheikh Zayed Medical College/Hospital Rahim Yar Khan. A total of 140 consecutive women with complaint of generalized body aches, of 15 years and above age, who have given verbal consent, were included in the study. The data was collected on a predesigned and pretested questionnaire which included variables on age, residence [rural/urban], number of rooms in house, exposure to sunlight, type of clothing [full sleeve/half sleeve] dietary intake of vitamin D such as milk and food supplement. Serum vitamin D [25 OH vitamin D] level >/=30ng/dl, was taken as normal, 21-29 ng/dl as insufficient and 11-20 ng/dl as deficient. Chi square test was applied for comparing groups for risk factors association, with p-value of <0.05 as significant. The data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 16.0
Results: A total of 150 women of 15 years and above were included in study, with 73% having vitamin D. level of <30 ng/dl. The mean level of serum vitamin D level was 19 +/- 2.1 ng/dl, with minimum 4 ng/dl to maximum of 43.7 ng/dl- Urban residence, illiteracy, poor housing, lack of sun exposure, wearing veil, lack of milk, meat and vitamin D supplement intake as significant [p-value <0.05] risk factors
Conclusion: Our findings revealed that there is a very high burden of vitamin D deficiency among females of our region. Urban residence, illiteracy, poor housing, lack of sun exposure, wearing veil, lack of milk, meat and vitamin D supplement intake as significant risk factors of low serum vitamin D levels