Vitamin D status among the adults of Guwahati and its associated factors: A cross sectional study

Background: Vitamin D deficiency prevails all over the Indian subcontinent, with a prevalence of 70-100% in the general public and this is likely to contribute to enormous burden on the health care system of India. Aim and Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of vitamin D status among the adults of Guwahati and assess the vitamin D status in relation to various factors associated with it. Material and Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conducted among adults aged between 18-45 years in the municipal wards of Guwahati city. Using the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults as 93.3% and absolute error as 5%, the sample size was calculated to be 100 which was rounded to be 120. The data collected was entered in Microsoft Office Excel and analyzed using Graph Pad Instat. Results: In this study, majority (48.3%) had vitamin D insufficiency (20-30 ng/ml), 36.7% had sufficient vitamin D (30-100 ng/ml) level and 15.0% had vitamin D deficiency (< 20 ng/ml). The vitamin D status in relation to nutritional status, lifestyle and the timing of sun exposure was not found to be statistically significant. Whereas, the vitamin D status in relation to the duration of sun exposure and the use of sunscreen was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.0063 and p = 0.0138 respectively). Conclusion: Since vitamin D levels were found to be lower than normal level, health education as well as easy availability of testing for vitamin D and supplementation of vitamin D at various health care facilities is necessary.