Diabetic blacks – 80 percent had low vitamin D (less than 20 ng) a decade before – Sept 2017

The Association of Vitamin D Deficiency and Glucose Control Among Diabetic Patients

Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, online 12 Sept. 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2017.09.001
Mansour Almetwazi

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Deficiency = < 20ng    (many believe deficiency = < 30 ng and that optimal is > 40 ng)

Objective
To evaluate the association between the level of vitamin D and glycemic control among patients with diabetes.

Research design and Method
We analyzed data collected from NHANES 2003-2006. We included only non-pregnant adult diabetic persons 18 years or older. Participants who had vitamin D level less than 20ng/ml were considered as having vitamin D deficiency. Participants were considered to have a glucose control if the HbA1c level was less than 7% [53 mmol/L]. We used student’s t test to compare the difference in HbA1c means between people with Diabetes with and without a vitamin D deficiency. We used a multivariate logistic regression model to predict the relationship between glucose control and vitamin D deficiency. We used race/ethnicity, BMI, age, gender, type of diabetic medication used, having health insurance or not, and comorbid conditions (hypertension, anemia, cholesterol, liver disease, and kidney disease) as control variables.

Results
The study population included a total of 929 non-institutionalized, non-pregnant, diabetic adult persons. About 57% of patients with diabetes had a vitamin D deficiency. Blacks (non-Hispanic patients) with diabetes had the highest rate of vitamin D deficiency (79%). The unadjusted means of HbA1c were significantly different between diabetic patients with no vitamin D deficiency and those with a vitamin D deficiency (7.06% [54 mmol/L], 7.56 % [59 mmol/L], respectively, P<0.0001). Multivariate adjustment showed a small but not significant, increase in odds (11%) of having uncontrolled diabetes in patients with a vitamin D deficiency after adjustment for other factors.

Conclusion
Vitamin D deficiency is very common in patients with diabetes. We found no significant association between vitamin D level and glycemic control in patients with diabetes after adjustment for control variables.

Conclusion in PDF

In conclusion, vitamin D deficiency is more common in patients with diabetes. Therefore, monitoring of serum vitamin D level in diabetics is advised. Although we found that correcting the level of vitamin D is not likely to improve glycemic control, other studies suggested that vitamin D supplementation may help to reduce the development of other health risks such as bone diseases, cognitive impairment, and cardiovascular diseases.