The Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Recently, there is accumulating evidence to suggest that altered vitamin D and calcium homeostasis may play a role in the development and control of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

The aim of the current study was to estimate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in type 2 DM.

This was a cross-sectional study through screening of a random sample of patients with type 2 DM who were recruited from Diabetes Clinics in Family Medicine and Primary Health Care at Health Care Specialty Clinic (HCSC)-King Abdul-Aziz Medical City in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. For eligible patients, who matched the selection criteria, the following laboratory tests were performed: vitamin D level in form of 25 OH Vit D, HbA1c, fasting blood glucose and lipid profile.

In the current study, 248 type 2 diabetic patients had been screened for vitamin D deficiency. The majority of diabetic patients had suboptimal level of vitamin D (98.4%). Almost three-quarters of female diabetic patients (73.6%) compared to less than half of male diabetic patients (46.9%) had vitamin D deficiency while approximately half of male patients (50.8% and one quarter of female patients (25.6%) had vitamin D insufficiency. This difference between them was statistically significant (chi-sq.=18.5, p<0.001).

The results of our study showed that the majority of type 2 diabetic patients had suboptimal vitamin D level. 73.6% of female diabetic patients while 46.9% of male diabetic patients were vitamin D deficient.