High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in school children in Jammu: a whistle blower

Abstract

Background: Vitamin D deficiency prevails in epidemic proportions among school going children in India, but there is scarcity of searchable data on vitamin D status in school children in Jammu and Kashmir; hence we have assessed the vitamin D status in school going children attending outpatient department in a tertiary care hospital Jammu.Methods: The study was conducted in the department of Biochemistry Government Medical College Jammu during June to December, 2018 and after obtaining informed consent, a total of 104 school going children between the age group of 6 years to 12 years, attending SMGS Hospital Jammu were screened for their vitamin D (25 OH-D) status by using Abbott architect chemiluminescent micro particle immunoassay.Results: Out of a total of 104 school going children screened in the study, 91 (87.5%) were found to be having insufficient vitamin D levels in their blood (<30ngm/dl) whereas 63 (60.5%) children showed severe deficiency with vitamin D levels below 20ngm/dl.Conclusions: Despite of abundant sunshine throughout the year and also with the consideration that people of this region are well off economically and can afford good nutrition, the results of our study revealing high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in school going children can be taken as a whistle blower for the health policy makers of the region.

Vitamin D status in 5-15 years old children attending pediatric OPD in tertiary care hospital in Jammu and Kashmir, North India: a cross sectional study

“…11 Study conducted by Kaur et al in Jammu, North India also found a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (87.5%) in school going children. 12 In accordance with this study, many studies have shown that despite having so many sunny days in India throughout the year, vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in our country irrespective of their age group and gender. [13][14][15][16] In a study conducted in North India (270N), 91% of healthy school girls were found to have hypovitaminosis D, findings similar to the results shown in our study.…”

Perturbing Status of Vitamin D among Adolescents in Jammu

“…Vitamin D deficiency is very prevalent in India. In our previous studies a very high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency along with other micronutrients has been observed in urban population of Jammu, comprising of pregnant women, 1 school going children 2 and elderly population of jammu. 3 The deficiency of Vitamin D, also known as sunshine vitamin, is very common in adolescents because of their changing life style, adaptation to western diet, decreased outdoor activities and more indulgence in indoor computer and internet games and less exposure to sunlight, As such vitamin D deficiency has assumed a pandemic proportions and is a major public health problem.…”