Evaluation of Vitamin D Levels in Children by Seasons, Gender and Age

Abstract

Introduction: Vitamin D is significantly effective in bone and mineral metabolism. Low levels of vitamin D has been associated with rickets, susceptibility to infections, obesity, diabetes mellitus, muscle weakness, depression, and development of autoimmune diseases in children. On the other hand, elevated levels may cause hypercalcemia, polyuria, hypertension, nephrolithiasis, and renal failure. In this study, we aimed to examine serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D] levels of children in the risk group for low vitamin D levels. Methods: A total of 1259 patients who applied to our pediatric outpatient clinic for routine examination between January and December 2015 were evaluated retrospectively; age, gender, [25(OH)D] levels were grouped according to seasons. Results: Our study included 711 (56.4%) girls and 548(43.6%) boys between the ages of 0 and 18. The mean vitamin D levels of the patients were found as 21.69±11.23 ng/mL. The vitamin D level of 50% of the children was below 20 ng/ml and at the level of deficiency and insufficiency. A statistically significant difference was found between age groups according to vitamin D levels (p