Vitamin D Insufficiency

Abstract

). © 2011 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and ResearchT he past decade has seen renewed interest in the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D, because new data suggest that its benefits extend beyond healthy bones. Accompanying this renewed interest has been a proliferation of published studies related to the effects of vitamin D in many varying clinical conditions. This article discusses the definition of vitamin D insufficiency, identifies the sources of variation in vitamin D status, reviews the evidence for the clinical benefits of vitamin D, and recognizes indications for vitamin D testing.Representative studies were selected to highlight some of the limitations of current knowledge related to vitamin D insufficiency and the clinical benefits of vitamin D. We selected studies with the strongest level of evidence for clinical decision making related to vitamin D and health outcomes from our personal libraries of the vitamin D literature and from a search of the PubMed database using the term vitamin D in combination with the following terms related to the potential nonskeletal benefits of vitamin D: mortality, cardiovascular, diabetes mellitus, cancer, multiple sclerosis, allergy, asthma, infection, depression, psychiatric, and pain the following hierarchy: meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), RCTs, nonrandomized intervention studies, meta-analyses of observational studies (cohort and case-control studies), and observational studies.

The Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Clinical Outcomes for Critically Ill Patients: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

“…As we know, vitamin D becomes a biologically active hormone after forming 25-OH vitamin D in the liver and calcitriol (1,25-OH vitamin D) in the kidney (43). Vitamin D levels are affected by many factors, such as vitamin D intake, absorption and adiposity (44). More importantly, the levels of vitamin D are affected by acute kidney injury, infection, fluid overload, and immobilization, which occur frequently in critically ill patients.…”

Data_Sheet_2.PDF

“…As we know, vitamin D becomes a biologically active hormone after forming 25-OH vitamin D in the liver and calcitriol (1,25-OH vitamin D) in the kidney (43). Vitamin D levels are affected by many factors, such as vitamin D intake, absorption and adiposity (44). More importantly, the levels of vitamin D are affected by acute kidney injury, infection, fluid overload, and immobilization, which occur frequently in critically ill patients.…”

Data_Sheet_4.PDF

“…As we know, vitamin D becomes a biologically active hormone after forming 25-OH vitamin D in the liver and calcitriol (1,25-OH vitamin D) in the kidney (43). Vitamin D levels are affected by many factors, such as vitamin D intake, absorption and adiposity (44). More importantly, the levels of vitamin D are affected by acute kidney injury, infection, fluid overload, and immobilization, which occur frequently in critically ill patients.…”