Assessment of Vitamin D status in Healthy Egyptian Pre-pubertal Children

Abstract

itamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent in the world; it is estimated that >1 billion people have 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations consistent with insufficiency (<30 ng/ml). Even children who live in subtropical climates are at risk of vitamin D deficiency as Egypt. There is a growing body of evidence for the contribution of poor vitamin D status (ie, serum hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) levels below 20 ng/ml) to the development of various chronic diseases (for example, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, as well as some inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and some forms of cancer) which are frequent in Western societies. This may be of major concern in light of the sizeable numbers of subjects in many countries with serum 25(OH)D3 levels below 20 ng/ml, especially during winter. However, much of this evidence is from studies in adults and whether poor vitamin D status in childhood is a risk factor for these chronic diseases is less well understood. Moreover, the biochemical definition commonly used to classify an adult as marginally vitamin D deficient, or vitamin D insufficient, may not be appropriate for use in children and/or adolescents. This study aimed to evaluate 25OHD status in sixty normal pre-pubertal Egyptian children, estimate the frequency of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency among them and