A cross sectional study of vitamin D status of 5-18 years children in a tertiary care of hospital

Abstract

High prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency has been reported in pediatric population from different parts of the country. However, this study investigated the prevalence and risk factors associated with vitamin D deficiency in children. To assess the serum Vitamin D level and also to find out the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency among children and adolescents in Gwalior, a major northern city of Madhya Pradesh. Cross sectional descriptive study The serum 25(OH)D levels of 258 children from age five to below 18 years, attending the out-patient clinics of the hospital were analyzed from June 2021 to Dec 2021. Data being non-parametric was presented as median and interquartile range. The group differences were computed by Mann Whitney U test. A p value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. 60% of the study population had insufficient levels of Vitamin D, with girls having significantly lower levels of serum vitamin D. Only 27% of adolescents had optimum level of serum Vitamin D. A high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and Vitamin D deficiency was found among the children living in the urban and sub urban areas of Gwalior city in northern Madhya Pradesh India.