Vitamin D Insufficiency and Deficiency among Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women of Childbearing Age: Observations from a Tertiary Care Centre in Northern India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21276/apalm.3889Keywords:
vitamin d deficiency, 25-hydroxyvitamin d, pregnancy, antenatal care, cross-sectional study, northern indiaAbstract
Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a widespread nutritional problem among women in India. This study determined the prevalence and severity of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency among pregnant women compared with age-matched non-pregnant women.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted over 12 months at the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Kannauj, UP, India. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] was measured by ELISA (OCTEIA 25(OH)D, IDS Ltd, UK) in 370 women: 216 pregnant (cases) and 154 non-pregnant controls. Status categories followed Endocrine Society criteria: severe deficiency (<12 ng/mL), deficiency (12–<20 ng/mL), insufficiency (20–<30 ng/mL), and sufficiency (≥30 ng/mL). Group comparisons used the Mann-Whitney U test for continuous 25(OH)D data (given marked right-skew) and Pearson chi-square for categorical distributions; p<0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Mean 25(OH)D was 21.30±19.34 ng/mL (cases) and 20.03±18.81 ng/mL (controls); the Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant difference (U=17,732; p=0.278). Suboptimal vitamin D status (<30 ng/mL) was present in 82.9% of pregnant and 80.5% of non-pregnant women. Severe deficiency was more prevalent among controls (46.8%) than cases (34.7%), while moderate deficiency was more frequent in cases (29.2% vs 18.8%). On a four-category chi-square analysis (toxicity category collapsed into sufficiency due to low expected cell counts), the overall category distribution differed significantly (χ²=8.263, df=3; p=0.041).
Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency affect more than four-fifths of women of childbearing age regardless of pregnancy status, indicating a pre-existing chronic nutritional gap. Routine 25(OH)D screening at the first antenatal visit, followed by evidence-based higher-dose supplementation.
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