Vitamin D deficiency among pediatric osteoarticular tuberculosis patients.

OBJECTIVES

We prospectively investigated serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D concentrations in children suffering from osteoarticular tuberculosis. The age or sex correlation to vitamin D levels in affected subjects was also calculated.

METHODS

Twenty five untreated children with osteoarticular tuberculosis were taken as cases along with equal number of age and sex matched 'healthy' controls. The following laboratory references for defining the vitamin D status were used (<30 nmol/L = deficiency; 30-75 nmol/L = insufficiency; > 75 nmol/L = sufficiency). The cases were further grouped based on gender differences and age (<5 or >5 years).

RESULTS

Out of 25 cases, there were 14 (56%) with deficiency of vitamin D. In 'apparently' healthy subjects, all 25 controls (100%) had hypovitaminosis D. The osteoarticular tuberculosis patients had significant lower levels of vitamin D when compared with their healthy peers irrespective of gender or age differences.

CONCLUSIONS

The osteoarticular tuberculosis cases had low serum vitamin D levels compared to healthy controls. The low vitamin D levels were persistent irrespective of gender and age in osteoarticular tuberculosis children. There was widespread vitamin D insufficiency in apparently healthy controls.