Frequency of Vitamin D Deficiency in Patients in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of Vitamin D deficiency in chronic hemodialysis patients and its association with duration on dialysis. Material and Methods: One hundred fifty two patients on hemodialysis were taken in this descriptive study, conducted at department of Nephrology, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore from June 2014 to June 2016. After brief history, examination and record review, blood sample was collected for 25(OH) Vitamin D and SPSS was employed for data entry and analysis purpose. Results: Of these 152 study cases, 93 (61.2%) were male patients while 59 (38.8%) were female patients. Mean age of our study cases Was 48.84 ± 7.34 years, for male patients mean was 47.38 ± 7.72 years while of female patients was 51.15 ± 6.07 years (p=0.002) and 92 (60.5%) belonged to age group of 46 – 60 years of age. Of these 152 study cases, 83 (54.6 %) were diabetic, 40 (26.3 %) were hypertensive patients. Majority of our study cases i.e. 98 (64.5%) were poor, 31 (20.4%) had middle income and 23 (15.1%) were rich. Ninety two (60.5 %) were from rural area while 60 (39.5%) were from urban areas. Sixty four (42.1%) had history of exposure to the sunlight while majority 88 (57.9%) did not had history of exposure to sunlight. Mean duration on hemodialysis was noted to be 18.04 ± 8.57 months (with minimum duration on hemodialysis was 4 months while maximum duration on hemodialysis was 39 months). Mean vitamin D level was noted to be 13.78 ± 8.78 ng/ml; ranging from 7 ng/ml to 29 ng/ml. Vitamin D deficiency was noted in the 129 (84.9%) of our study cases. Conclusion:In our study, frequency of vitamin D deficiency was very high among patients on hemodialysis. Vitamin D level should be routinely monitored and corrected among patients on Hemodialysis which will improve their quality of life. These patients need supplementation of high dosage of cholecalciferol. Vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with female gender, hypertension, poor socioeconomic status, disease duration and exposure to the sunlight. Proper supplementation can help save these patients from cardiovascular diseases and immunological disorder.

Keywords:Vitamin D deficiency, hemodialysis, chronic kidney disease.