Serum 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D Levels in Indian Infants and Mothers from Sub Himalayan Region

Abstract

Introduction: Vitamin D is a pro-hormone that is essential for normal absorption of calcium from the gut. Apart from rickets vitamin D deficiency has many other negative health associated conditions like infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, dilated cardiomyopathy and malignancies. Nowadays in children, there is a growing evidence of association of vitamin D deficiency with increase in acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTI), impaired neurological function and possibly mental health conditions, namely schizophrenia. Objective: To find out serum 25-Hydroxy vitamin D (25 (OH) D) levels in healthy infants and mothers in a tertiary health care set up in a hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh, India. Methodology: An observational study planned to find the 25-Hydroxy vitamin D (25 (OH) D) levels among healthy infants and their mothers who came for routine health check up after taking written consent. Results: Total 80 subjects studied and 40 infants who came for routine health check up the median 25 (OH) D levels was 12.70 ng/ml. The median 25 (OH) D levels of mothers of infants were 11.15 ng/ml. The observations showed vitamin D deficiency in majority (78.75%) of our studied subjects. Conclusion: This study showed vitamin D deficiency in healthy infants and their mothers. The observations of the study indicate that vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in high risk population group in Himachal Pradesh.