Vitamin D Deficiency in Young Saudis with Type 1 Diabetes mellitus

Published Date: 13 May 2019 Abstract Background: Some studies reported the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in non diabetic population. This study was investigated to find out the vitamin D status in Saudi patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Methods: A cross-sectional single centre study was conducted in 286 Saudi patients with T1DM between January to December 2018. The serum concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured. Results: There were 286 patients with T1DM, 155 (54.2%) male and 131 ((45.8%) female. The mean age was 16.1 ± 2.1 years (12-19 years). The mean and median 25-OHD concentrations were 43.0 ± 22.4 and 37.7 nmol/l respectively. The prevalence of different vitamin D status were; 71.3% deficient, 19.9% insufficient and 8.7% sufficient. Moreover, vitamin D deficiency (VDD) was significantly more prevalent among males than females (54.2% vs. 45.8% respectively, p=0.01) with male to female ratio 1.2:1.0. In addition, there was no statistically significant different between HbA1c and different vitamin D status groups. The mean 25-OHD was lowest in the age 18 years patients, whereas highest in the age 19 years (33.5 and 51.9 nmol/l respectively). Moreover, males had lower mean 25-OHD than females across most of the age groups with vitamin D deficient was more prevalent at the age 17 years. 25-OHD concentration was non-significantly negatively correlated with age (r=-0.049, p=0.4) and non-significantly positively correlated with HbA1c (r=0.066, p=0.4). Conclusions: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in young with Saudi patients with T1DM is high. We recommend larger scale studies for detecting VDD in our population with T1DM and suggest planning strategies to supplement our T1DM population with vitamin D.