[Vitamin D deficiency: diagnosis and treatment]

Vitamin D deficiency has a major effect on various chronic diseases. In view of this, even a mild deficiency should be considered a reason for initiating supplementation. Apart from such clinical signs as muscular and skeletal complaints, determination of calcium in the urine and serum, together with the measured laboratory values of phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, 25-hydroxy vitamin D and parathormone form the basis for the diagnosis. As a rule, vitamin D3 treatment at doses of between 400 and 1000 IU is applied.