Assessment of Vitamin C Deficiency among Population in Semi Urban Area: A Hospital Based Study

ABSTRACT

Background: India has made tremendous progress in allfronts since independence including food production. Scurvy isa clinical syndrome that results from vitamin C deficiency.Hence; the present study was undertaken for assessingVitamin C Deficiency among Population in Semi Urban Area.Materials & Methods: The net semi-urban population in thepresent study was 796 patients. After obtaining the writtenconsent in these patients, blood samples were taken and weresent to the department of general pathology. From the bloodsamples, plasma concentrations of vitamin C were calculatedusing an-autoanalyzer. All the results were recorded inMicrosoft excel sheet and were analyzed by SPSS software.Results: A total of 796 semi-urban subjects were analyzed.Among these 796 subjects, deficient levels of vitamin C wasfound to be present in 28.64 percent of the patients, while suboptimal and adequate levels of vitamin C was found to bepresent in 26.64 and 44.72 percent of the patients. Among 228vitamin C deficient subjects, 39.48 percent belonged to the agegroup of more than 45 years. 54.82 percent of the Vitamin Cdeficient patients were males while the remaining werefemales.Conclusion: Vitamin C deficiency is prevalent in significant insignificant amount among semi-urban population.