Prevalence of 25-hydroxy vitamin D deficiency among type 2 diabetic subjects of South India

Vitamin D levels have been documented to have significant inverse relationship with type 2 diabetes. However, data on the extent of vitamin D deficiency among type 2 diabetes subjects of India is lacking. The present study was undertaken among diabetic subjects of South India to address this lacuna. This retrospective study was conducted among patients attending a diabetes specialty hospital who had established type 2 diabetes mellitus. Demographic data and data on laboratory parameters such as vitamin D, HbA1c, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and serum calcium were obtained from the hospital information system. Vitamin D levels were classified as normal (≥30 ng/mL), insufficient (>20 to 29.9 ng/mL), and deficient (≤20 ng/mL). We included 4628 subjects with diabetes. Among them, 71.4 % were vitamin D deficient, 15 % were vitamin D insufficient, and 13.6 % were found to have normal vitamin D levels. On comparing the two genders, it was seen that the percentage of men and women with these conditions were similar. The proportion of subjects with these conditions across different age groups (30–50, 50–70, >70) were also similar. BMI, age, calcium levels, and HbA1c were found to be the major confounders for vitamin D status. Our study, done among type 2 diabetes people, show that vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent among them. Considering such high prevalence, screening of diabetic patients for vitamin D deficiency would be beneficial in this population.