ESPE Abstracts

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is currently a topic of intense interest, and is widely prevalent. Low vitamin D levels have been reported in many immune disorders as type 1 diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). AIM of this study is to assess the vitamin D status in T1DM children and adolescent in Karbala.

Patients and methods: A case control study, a total of 171 subject, consisted of two groups; diabetic patients 121 cases (48 male and 73 female), aged 5–16 years and a control group 50 (26 female and 24 male) non diabetic children with matched age. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured for all subjects, glycosylated hemoglobin was measured for diabetic cases. Vitamin D status classified according to American academy of pediatrics recommendations.

Results: Level of vitamin D was significantly lower for diabetic cases (Mdn =11.4) than for controls (Mdn =13.8), U=2161.5, Z=−2.93(P=.003). Further analysis of vitamin D level using 10ng/ml as cutoff level to assess the severity of vitamin D deficiency between diabetic cases and controls shows that percent of severe vitamin D deficiency within diabetic cases (42%) was more than control (12%) which was highly significant.

Conclusion: Diabetic children are more vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency than non-diabetic with more incidence of severe vitamin D deficiency among them. Routine screening of vitamin D level for all children and adolescent with T1DM should be considered. Further studies are recommended to evaluate the effect of vitamin D supplementation for T1DM patients with vitamin D deficiency on glycemic control. Vitamin D supplementation of T1DM children and adolescent with low vitamin D levels should be warranted.