Signs and Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital in the United Arab Emirates.

Fatma Alawadhi,Lemis Yavuz

doi:10.7759/cureus.18998

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to estimate the common signs and symptoms present in patients with vitamin D deficiency at a children’s specialty hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study (n = 805) examined patients aged <18 years with a serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D concentration of <50 ng/mL and presenting to the hospital between 2017 and 2018. Variables (age, gender, nationality, vitamin D levels, signs and symptoms, and primary complaint) were described using frequencies and mean values (SD). Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted.Results: Among the 805 patients, 315 (39.2%) had vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL). Regarding the symptoms of these 315 patients, 26% (n = 82) of them were asymptomatic, 13.3% (n = 42) of them had endocrine symptoms and other/rare symptoms, and 11.7% (n = 37) of them had gastrointestinal symptoms. The least common symptoms were found in the mixed category (mixed symptoms of different body systems), consisting of 3.5% (n = 11) of patients. Vitamin D deficiency was more common among female patients (44.8%) and Emiratis (40.5%), and the average age for patients to have vitamin D deficiency was nine years.Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies in the United Arab Emirates to focus on and examine patients with low vitamin D levels in detail. Determining the most frequent symptoms is helpful for healthcare practitioners because our results showed that most patients with the deficiency were asymptomatic. Hence, we recommend performing regular checkups for healthy and asymptomatic children to detect vitamin D deficiency before they show any symptoms.

Highlights

Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins in our body
A total of 1187 patients were tested for vitamin D levels in the years 2017 and 2018, of which only 805 patients met the eligibility criteria to be included in this study (Figure 1)
26.7% were asymptomatic (n = 215), which is generally expected among patients visiting for a general checkup, considering that the frequency of symptoms and the primary complaint are for the entire study group and not specific to patients with vitamin D deficiency (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins in our body. In severe cases, patients may present with daytime fatigue [6], increasing pain [7,8], and bone problems [9,10], and novel studies are starting to link vitamin D deficiency with autism [11,12]. Most of these symptoms can be avoided by providing the patient with vitamin D supplements [13]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion