Vitamin D deficiency in the urological population: a single center analysis

Vitamin D has a well-known role in calcium metabolism and bone health. It may also help prevent a number of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and malignancies such as breast, colorectal and prostate cancer. To our knowledge the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has never been reported in the general urological population. We evaluated the vitamin D status of this population at a large academic center.

We retrospectively reviewed the records of 3,763 male and female patients from a urology database at a single academic institution. Patients were identified whose levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D were measured for the first time between 1997 and 2010. We determined the prevalence of normal--greater than 30, insufficient--20 to 29 and deficient--less than 20 ng/ml 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for vitamin D deficiency.

Overall 2,559 patients (68%) had suboptimal 25-hydroxyvitamin D (less than 30 ng/ml), of whom 1,331 (52%) were frankly deficient (less than 20 ng/ml) in the vitamin. Vitamin D deficiency was more common in patients younger than age 50 years (44.5%), black (53.2%) and Hispanic (41.6%) patients (p <0.001), and patients without an existing urological malignancy (35.4%, p <0.001). On multivariate analysis race, age, season and cancer diagnosis were independent predictors of vitamin D status.

Vitamin D deficiency is extremely common in urological patients at a major urban medical center. Urologists should consider recommending appropriate supplementation during the initial assessment of all patients.