Study of Vitamin D levels in asthma at tertiary care Centre

Abstract

Background: Bronchial asthma is one of the common chronic diseases & leading cause of
morbidity worldwide. (1,2). The predominance of asthma is about 300 million people
worldwide. In India, load of asthma is more than 30 million. It has 66% frequency of
reported exacerbations. Vitamin D has action on pro-inflammatory mediators and smooth
musclefunction and proliferation, which has direct relevance for lung function in asthma.
Material & Methods: The observational study was done in Government Medical College
Datia MP from June 2019- December 2019. 60 Patients of 18-60 years with diagnosis of
bronchial asthma on the basis of clinical and radiological signs were included, while age
matched 60 controls years free from any disease and morbidity were included and
assessed for vitamin D levels.
Results: The mean serum vitamin D level was significantly low at 24.13±4.91 ng/ml in
patients, while 38.67±4.03 ng/ml was the mean vitamin D level of controls. The vitamin D
levels of mild and moderate (persistent) asthma patients was seen lower than those of the
controls.
Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in patients during exacerbations of
bronchial asthma. It is also associated with lower lung functions and increased number of
exacerbations. Thus vitamin D supplementation may be effective in the prevention and
treatment of bronchial asthma and exacerbations.