Prevalence of vitamin d deficiency among Indian menopausal women and its correlation with diabetes: A first Indian cross sectional data

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: To evaluate prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency and establish any correlation between diabetes and vitamin D deficiency among postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25 (OH) D] concentrations were measured by competitive in-vitro quantitative immunoassay. The subjects were classified as vitamin D-deficient, insufficient or sufficient on the basis of 25 (OH) D concentrations of < 20 ng/mL, 20–30 ng/mL or > 30 ng/mL respectively. The apparently normal postmenopausal women (PMW) were subjected to fasting blood sugar levels to analyse any correlation between vitamin D deficiency and diabetes. RESULTS: Vitamin D deficiency was observed in 53.35% of the population, 19.48% had insufficiency and 26.83% had adequate Vitamin D levels. In 12.14% of the study population fasting blood glucose was > 110 mg/dl and rest of the subjects were between the normal range which is 70–110mg/dl. Correlation between raised blood sugar levels and Vitamin D deficiency among PMW was non-significant (P = 0.324). CONCLUSION: High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency exists among apparently healthy Indian PMW. However, the current study failed to show any statistical correlation between vitamin D deficiency and existence of diabetes, which may be due to small sample size.