Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in northeast Tennessee.
BACKGROUND
Vitamin D deficiency is increasingly being recognized as a highly prevalent and undertreated problem. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency in hospitalized adults in northeast Tennessee.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study was conducted on 99 inpatients admitted to an internal medicine teaching service from July through October 2006 at a single private hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee. A single measurement of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was performed on all patients.


RESULTS
Of the 99 patients, 53% were vitamin D deficient or insufficient (30% deficient with a level of <20 ng/mL and 23% insufficient with a level between 20-29.9 ng/mL). The highest frequency of deficiency was in females <50 years.


CONCLUSIONS
Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in all age groups and in both females and males in this population. Clinicians should consider measuring the vitamin D level of all inpatients on a routine basis.
Kuriacose
Reena
R
Department of Internal Medicine, James H. Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA. kuriacos@etsu.edu
Olive
Kenneth E
KE
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013714:Tennessee / Q000453:epidemiology; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*