Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency among children and adolescents

Abstract

Background: Vitamin D is an essential prohormone for the normal skeletal and extraskeletal health. Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency is an unrecognized epidemic among children and adults worldwide. There are growing data from studies of young children and adolescents in other countries, but a limited information are available regarding the prevalence of this nutritional deficiency/insufficiency among the Nepalese children and adolescents. Thus this study was aimed to find out the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency among children and adolescents, who has attended in Chitwan Medical College (CMC). Methods: This was a retrospective hospital based study in children between 2 months and 19 years of age, conducted in CMC from April 2015 to December 2016. Results: Among 108 total studied, overall 74.1% (80) patients had 25(OH) D levels lower than 30 ng/ml with 27.8% having severe deficiency (< 10 ng/ml), 28.7% deficiency (10-19 ng/ml) and 17.6% insufficiency (20-29 ng/ml) category . The prevalence was found higher in females (95.2%), though the difference in prevalence between sexes was not statistically significant (P -value 0.243). Conclusion: Our study concluded that a high prevalence of low Vitamin D status (deficiency/insufficiency) found among the paediatric population (all paediatric age groups) indicates a need for further national level study to find out the actual prevalence of this nutritional deficiency, as well as the need for vitamin D supplementation to all children and adolescents.

Prevalence of Hypovitaminosis D in Patients Visiting a Tertiary Care Center in Chitwan, Nepal

“…32 In our study, the overall prevalence rates of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were 35.9% and 34.8% respectively. In the study by Regmi et al, 20 17.6% of the study subjects were insufficient; 56.5% were deficient; and 27.8% were severely deficient (levels <10ng/mL) in vitamin D. The study population in that study were children and youngsters, i.e., the age-group comparable to the first quartile of age in our study. We found in our study that patients in the first and second quartiles of age demonstrated greater proportions of deficiency, whereas those in the third and last quartiles showed greater proportions of insufficiency.…”

“…Bhatta et al 18 , found the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D to be 75.4% in females and 70.1% in males. Regmi et al 20 reported a higher prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in females (children and youngsters) (80.9%) as compared to males (68.9%) of same age-group. Although the authors didn't report any statistical inference, the difference in proportion (i.e., 12.0%) was in contrast to our finding, especially in the first quartile of age.…”

“…This observed pattern of increased prevalence with decreased age can be attributed to various factors. An important one, also reiterated in the study by Regmi et al, 20 could be an inclusion of more proportions of afflicted children, who are naturally more likely to be taken to the hospital by their parents than any other age-groups on account of any relevant clinical picture, whatsoever. Amongst the children, specifically, those reliant solely on mothers' milk are superfluously at risk.…”

“…23 Amidst the various likely contributors of hypovitaminosis D, some of the most potential ones are contracted exposure to sunbeams as a result of forsaken outdoor activities, no matter whether recreational or professional. 20 In addition, unclean and contaminated atmosphere as a result of increased urbanization is also equally accountable. 24 Polluted air particles physically block the UV irradiation from reaching the skin.…”

Vitamin D deficiency among the patients attending B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences: a cross sectional study

“…Regmi et al have reported 74.1% vitamin D deficiency in a hospital-based study from Nepal. 1 Around 90% of apparently healthy Indians have subnormal vitamin D levels. 2 Vitamin D deficiency is reported in many populations across the world regardless of age and gender.…”