EVALUATING THE STATUS OF VITAMIN 25(OH) D LEVELS AMONG FEMALES OF ALL AGE GROUPS IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN VITAMIN D LEVELS AMONG FEMALES IN KARACHI

Abstract

Objective: Vitamin D plays an imperative role in growth, metabolism and reproduction. Low levels of this vitamin D, are highly prevalent globally and leads to various disorders besides different skeletal deformities. Women of different reproductive ages are more prone towards developing bone diseases as of low vitamin D levels. The study focuses to evaluate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiencies in females of different ages in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: Serum vitamin 25(OH) D levels of 1035 female were measured by electro-chemiluminiscence immuno assay. The data was analyzed through SPSS version 16. Results: Among 1035 participants of different reproductive ages, 26.1% (n= 270) showed severe vitamin D deficiency, 44.2% (n=458) displayed mild to moderate Vitamin D deficiency while 29.7% (n=307) were having normal levels of serum vitamin D. Discussion and conclusion: 70.4 % of our studied population had lower levels of vitamin D representing that majority of Pakistani women have vitamin D Deficiency. Since hypovitaminosis is a grim public health concern, strong recommendation of health education and vitamin D supplementations for the female population is proposed.