Burden of Vitamin D Deficiency in Female Patients in Different Stages of Life: a Retrospective Study

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to rickets in children, precocious puberty in adolescents, polycystic ovarian syndrome in adults and osteoporosis in older adults. Its requirements for females differ according to the stages of life. This study aims to estimate the proportion of vitamin D deficiency in female patients at different stages of life.

This cross-sectional retrospective study was done on female patients undergoing vitamin D estimation from January to December 2024 in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raebareli, India.. Vitamin D estimation in serum was conducted on VITROS 5600 Immunodiagnostic Systems by chemiluminescence immunoassay technique. Serum levels of ≥30 ng/mL, 20-30 ng/mL and < 20 ng/mL were considered normal, insufficient and deficient, respectively. Data was collected in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analysed by IBM SPSSv25.

Vitamin D estimation was done on 8 403 female patients. Deficient, insufficient and normal vitamin D levels were seen in 33.3%, 31.0% and 35.7% of subjects, respectively. Analysis according to the life stages highlighted that adolescents (13-18 years) had the highest (46.8%) deficiency, followed by young adults (19-24 years) (40.0%). Mean vitamin D levels were the lowest (24.2±15.9 ng/dL) in adolescents (13-18 years) and the highest (40.9±27.6 ng/dL) in newborns and babies (0-1.9 years) (F=22.8, p=0.00). Significant seasonal differences in vitamin D levels were observed, with the lowest (25.9±18.8 ng/dL) being seen in February and the highest (31.8±17.1 ng/dL) in August (F=7.1, p=0.00).

Across the stages of life in female patients, adolescents (13-18.9 years) had the highest burden of vitamin D deficiency. Incorporating vitamin D supplementation under the national health programme for adolescent females will be beneficial.