Prevalence of Vitamin-D Deficiency in Urban Population: A Retrospective Analysis

Introduction: To determine the levels of vitamin D deficiency in a selected population of Islamabad, Pakistan. Place and Duration: The study conducted at the Islamabad Diagnostic Centre, Islamabad from October 2011 to December 2011. Study Design:Retrospective study. Methodology: A total of 500 subjects were enrolled during the study period. ELISA based methodology was used to perform vitamin D measurement in serum. Data regarding baseline characteristics and laboratory findings was collected retrospectively from patients record maintained in laboratory. Results: Out of total 500 subjects tested for vitamin D, there were 71% females. The average age of respondents was 45.4 + 15.9 years (age range 1.6 to 92 years). Vitamin D levels showed that 60% of the individuals were deficient while insufficiency was found in 27.6% individuals. The rest of the subjects (11%) were normal and few (1.4%) had toxic levels of vitamin D. Conclusion: A significantly low serum vitamin D levels have been observed among both males and female population of Islamabad. The determination of Vitamin D level in our population will help clinicians and nutritionist to understand importance of Vitamin D diagnosis and its association with certain clinical conditions.