Assessment of vitamin D levels in children who admitted to pediatric outpatient clinics by age, gender and seasons in Şırnak province, Turkey

Abstract

Background and objective: This study purposes to designate the profile of 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] by evaluating the vitamin D levels of patients attending the pediatric outpatient clinics at the State Hospital in Şırnak, the second city in Turkey in terms of fertility. Methods: In the study, 4753 patients hospitalized at Şırnak State Hospital were enrolled, and their vitamin D levels were retrospectively examined. Throughout the research, vitamin D concentrations were assessed based on the patients’ gender, age, and seasonal variations. Serum vitamin D levels were categorized as severe deficiency at <12 ng/ml, mild-moderate deficiency at 12–20 ng/ml, and normal at 20–100 ng/ml. Results: The study analyzed the data of 2107 males and 2646 females. For boys and girls, the median serum vitamin D levels were 18.23 ng/ml and 22.42 ng/ml respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in vitamin D levels between different age groups in both genders (p<0.01). Vitamin D levels were at their lowest in winter and highest in summer for both genders, and statistically significant variations were observed across the seasons (p<0.01). The median vitamin D level was found to be 25.59 ng/ml in patients aged 0–5 years (n=2,272), 18.16 ng/ml in patients aged 6–12 years (n=1,580), and 13.40 ng/ml in patients aged 13–17 years (n=901). Conclusions: In this study, patients hospitalized at the Şırnak state hospital had severe vitamin D shortages and insufficiency. Vitamin D low levels are believed to be attributed to vitamin D synthesis’s lack due to inadequate wintertime sunshine, a lack of outside activities for kids in the area, or vitamin D-deficient foods. As a result of these findings, there is an increased need for supportive therapy.