Vitamin D deficiency and comorbidity
Endocrine Abstracts (2010) 22 P99
European Congress of Endocrinology April 2010
Ifigenia Kostoglou-Athanassiou1, Aikaterini Chronaiou1, Panagiotis Athanassiou2, Aikaterini Michou1, Dimitris Stefanopoulos1, Razvan Alexandros Badila1, Thomais Terzi1 & Areti Karfi1
1Department of Endocrinology, Red Cross Hospital, Athens, Greece; 2Department of Rheumatology, St Paul’s Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Vitamin D deficiency is increasingly recognized today having taken the form of a modern epidemic. Vitamin D, being synthesized in the skin under the effect of ultraviolet light has been originally thought of as occurring only in areas of the world where people are not exposed to the sun. However, it has recently been observed that vitamin D deficiency exists even in sunny areas. Recent observations suggest that vitamin D deficiency is related to significant comorbidity, specifically to the occurrence of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease.
The aim of the study was to describe the associated comorbidity in a group of 52 consecutive patients diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency.
Patients and methods: A group of 52 consecutive patients diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency aged (62.77±10.48 years, mean±S.D.), 45 women and 7 men are described. Vitamin D was measured by RIA.
Results: BMI was 30.26±5.83 (mean±S.D.), glycosylated hemoglobin HbA1c was 7.5±2.11% (mean±S.D.) and 25(OH)D3 was 11.8±4.03 ng/ml.
Amongst the group of 52 patients with vitamin D deficiency 26 had diabetes mellitus type 2, 22 had thyroid disease, 10 had osteoporosis, 2 osteopenia, 14 had undergone cholocystectomy and had gastritis and 13 had arterial hypertension and coronary artery disease.
Conclusion: These data show that vitamin D deficiency is associated with significant comorbidity. In particular, it appears that it may predispose to the development of diabetes mellitus type 2 and may be implicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases. Cholocystectomy and gastritis may affect the absorption of vitamin D2 from the gastrointestinal tract and may thus be related to the aetiology and pathophysiology of vitamin D deficiency in this group of affected patients.
Endocrine Abstracts (2010) 22 P99