Vitamin D Levels: Do We Need to Assess Only in Disease?

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D is conventionally known as sunshine vitamin and is synthesized endogenously in sunlight. Vitamin D is known to be a key regulator of bone metabolism, the function of genes, and essential for the development of the whole body. Deficiency of Vitamin D is now become a major worldwide epidemic health problem. AIM: The present study was conducted with the objective of determining the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) in urban population of a district in south Punjab, across various characteristics of population such as gender, age, and socioeconomic status. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional population survey was conducted in the urban population of the district. A total of 120 healthy volunteers of either sex participated and their 25-hydroxy Vitamin D concentrations in serum samples were estimated using ELISA. The participants were divided into three categories as follows: Vitamin D deficient, insufficient, or sufficient, on the basis of normal standardized serum levels of Vitamin D <20, 20–30, and >30 ng/ml, respectively. RESULTS: Of 120 healthy individuals, 95% of the study participants had VDD or insufficiency and only 5% had adequate Vitamin D levels. In each age group, females showed lower Vitamin D levels as compared to males. Furthermore, high body mass index value was associated with low Vitamin D. Upper-class individuals also showed low levels of Vitamin D as compared to other socioeconomic classes' individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, high prevalence of VDD among the apparently healthy urban population of the district was observed and gives an alarming sign about continuously increasing prevalence of hypovitaminosis D among healthy population.