BackgroundVitamin D deficiency (VDD) is inversely associated with insulin resistance. We studied the prevalence of VDD across the spectrum of glucose intolerance, including normal glucose tolerance (NGT), prediabetes (PD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D).MethodsWe conducted this cross-sectional, observational study by serially including the PD and T2D patients seen between June and December 2014. We excluded patients with major illness, secondary diabetes and use of vitamin D or glucocorticoids. VDD was defined as serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25OHD) less than 30 ng/mL. The study population was divided into 3 groups: T2D (Group 1; n = 274), PD (Group 2; n = 62) and NGT controls (Group 3; n = 270) for the analysis and appropriate statistical methods were used.ResultsThe study participants (n = 606, 28 % males) had a mean age of 43.2 ± 13.6 years, BMI of 27.7 ± 5.9 kg/m2, HbA1c of 6.6 ± 2 % and mean 25OHD of 18.8 ± 15.7 ng/mL. VDD was seen in 85 % of the entire study population including 84 % in T2D, 77 % in prediabetes and in 87 % of the controls. The mean 25OHD levels were lower in the control group (16.8 ng/mL) when compared with T2D and prediabetes (19.9 and 22.4 ng/mL) respectively (P = 0.0124). Univariate analysis showed higher odds of VDD in females (P < 0.0001) but no association with diabetes, age, BMI and HbA1c.ConclusionOur data showed that VDD is prevalent in the majority of the population, irrespective of the underlying glucose intolerance. Further studies are required to determine the association between the vitamin D and diabetes.

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India has the second highest number of diabetic patients across the world with estimated number close to 70 million individuals. Further, the prevalence of diabetes in India is rapidly increasing and the diabetic patient population is projected to reach 100 million by 2030. 1 Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the classical microvascular complications of diabetes and may lead to blindness in advanced stages. DR progresses from the asymptomatic stage of mild to moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) to severe NPDR and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). 2 The disease is detectable at the asymptomatic stage by retinal examination a p o l l o m e d i c i n e 1 2 ( 2 0 1 5