PREVALENCE OF VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY AMONG SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN: AN EXPERIENCE FROM A TERTIARY HEALTH CARE FACILITY OF EASTERN INDIA

Abstract

Screening of vitamin D de\uf001ciency is specially recommended in pediatric age group who is more prone for its de\uf001ciency\nand consequent impaired bone mineralization. An Institution based, Observational, Cross-Sectional study with an\nobjective to \uf001nd out the prevalence of vitamin D de\uf001ciency among children attending pediatric OPD of a tertiary health care facility of Eastern\nIndia. A total of 98 study subjects were selected through systematic random sampling. Serum 25 (OH) D was classi\uf001ed as de\uf001cient, insuf\uf001cient,\nsuf\uf001cient, therapeutic, and potential toxicity if the serum concentration was <20ng/ml, 20-29ng/ml, 30-60ng/ml, 61-100ng/ml and >100ng/ml\nrespectively. Data was analyzed using The Statistical Package for Social Sciences for windows (SPSS, version 20.0). Chi-square test was used to\nshow association between categorical variables. All statistical tests was 2-tailed and a p-value of <0.05 was considered signi\uf001cant. Prevalence of\nvitamin D de\uf001ciency and insuf\uf001ciency was found to be 56.1% and 24.5% respectively. Only 19.4% of study participants had normal serum\nvitamin D level. Adolescent age, female gender and urban residence were found to be signi\uf001cant risk factors for hypovitaminosis D. In\nconclusion, there is very high prevalence of vitamin D de\uf001ciency and insuf\uf001ciency. High prevalence especially among adolescent, girls and urban\nchildren calls for an immediate attention of the nutritional policy makers to address this problem.