Assessment of vitamin d status in pregnant women, a prospective observational study from kashmir valley
International Journal of Development Research
Assessment of vitamin d status in pregnant women, a prospective observational study from kashmir valley
Received 18th December, 2017; Received in revised form 20th January, 2018; Accepted 03rd February, 2018; Published online 30th March, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Maqsood A. Dar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Back ground: Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy has important health implications for the mother and infant, including fetal hypovitaminosis D, neonatal rickets and tetany, infantile rickets. Recent studies, in many countries, have shown that low maternal vitamin D status is common during pregnancy, the magnitude of which warrants public health intervention. Aims: To prospectively assess the vitamin D nutritive status in pregnant women in Kashmir Valley and to study the prevalence of suboptimal vitamin D status in apparently healthy pregnant Kashmiri women. Study Design: One hundred and ninety three consenting pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of the Gynecology & Obstetrics Department of SKIMS over the study period of 18months were enrolled. Materials: The subjects found eligible underwent a detailed history and physical examination as per a pre-formed proforma. History was focused on occupation, dietary history including diet taken in last 24 hours, exposure to sunlight, drug intake, menstrual history and history of any systemic illness. A particular record was made of the women’s dressing habits. Of the 193 subjects recruited, only 165 subjects (in whom Vitamin D levels could be estimated) were further analyzed for the study. Serum levels of [25 (OH) D] were estimated by DiaSorin 25-OH-D assay, an RIA based procedure. Results: In the present study, vitamin D insufficiency (defined as serum 25[OH] D levels <30 ng/ml) was observed in about 82% of pregnant Kashmiri women while as vitamin D deficiency (serum 25[OH] D <20 ng/ml)2 was observed in 68.5%. In only about 18% subjects vitamin D sufficiency (serum 25[OH] D >30 ng/ml) was observed. Conclusion: From our study we conclude that vitamin D deficiency is quite prevalent in normal pregnant women in Kashmir valley. Taking a cut off value of 25 (OH) D of less than 20 ng/ml as vitamin D deficiency, overall 68.5% of pregnant women were found to be vitamin D deficient.
