COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE STATUS OF VITAMIN D3 IN YOUNG OFFICE WORKING WOMEN AND HOUSEWIVES IN UDAIPUR, RAJASTHAN

Background: Vitamin D₃ deficiency continues to be an unrecognized epidemic in many populations around the world. Vitamin D is important for the absorption of calcium, and bone formation and maintenance. Objective: This study was carried out with an objective of evaluating the prevalence of low Vitamin D levels (insufficiency and deficiency) in female office workers and housewife’s in Geetanjali medical college and hospital, Udaipur. Material & method: This study was carried out in Geetanjali hospital and medical college, a retrospective study conducted on 50 working and 50 housewife’s subjects between age group 18-32 years.  Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Serum calcium, serum phosphorous, and alkaline phosphatase were determined by a fully-auto-analyzer. The serum level of Vitamin D₃ was measured using the electro chemiluminescence immunoassay methodology. Results:  The difference in the BMI between the office workers and housewife’s was statistically no significant. Vitamin D3 was 18.72 ± 6.97ng/ml (SEM0.987) in office worker’s and 9.94 ± 6.14 ng/ml (SEM 0.869) in housewife’s with a highly significant (p<0.0001) statistical difference. Conclusion:  In all subjects there were low vitamin D₃ levels found. An urgent awareness with treatment of this deficiency must be undertaken to prevent any future consequences of   Vitamin D deficiency in these young healthy females.