Evaluation of Vitamin D Status among Known Paediatric Population at a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Clinical Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Deficiency of vitamin D causes osteomalacia,leading to growth retardation and skeletal deformities inchildren and osteoporosis in adults. There is growingrecognition of the role vitamin D plays in health impacting theinnate immune system to prevent infections and the adaptiveimmune system to modulate autoimmunity. Hence; we plannedthe present study to assess the vitamin D status in a knownpaediatric population.Materials & Methods: We planned the present study toassess status of vitamin D among known paediatric population.A total of 150 paediatric subjects were included in the presentstudy. We recorded complete demographic and clinical detailsof all the subjects. A certified paediatrician was employed forcollecting the capillary blood from all the subjects after prickingthem on their fingertip. From all the subjects, approximatelyfour to five drops of blood was collected, stored and was sentto laboratory for assessment of means serum Vitamin D andwas expressed in terms of 25(OH)D levels. All the results werecompiled and were evaluated by SPSS software.Results: Among 150 subjects, 100 were males whilethe remaining were females. Mild deficiency of vitamin D wasfound to be present in percent of the subjects. Moderate andsever deficiency of Vitamin D was found to be present in 20and 16.7 percent of the subjects respectively.Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in significantproportion of paediatric population.