Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in a North London antenatal population
  1. M Parisaei1,
  2. J Clements2,
  3. A Govind2,
  4. P Arora2,
  5. H Lakshmi2,
  6. P Kapila2
  1. 1Barnet Hospital, London, UK
  2. 2North Middlesex University Hospital, London, UK

Abstract

Background Calcium levels in adults depend heavily on concentration of vitamin D, and its deficiency in a pregnancy may lead to impairment of fetal skeletal formation and increase chronic disease susceptibility for the neonate. Women with darker skin produce less vitamin D for a given sunlight exposure and veiled women or those with modest dress code, regardless of the climate, have a reduced skin exposure to sunlight.

Aim The purpose of our study was to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant woman at time of booking at North Middlesex University Hospital, London.

Material and Methods This was a prospective study of maternal levels of vitamin D at booking. The hospital serves a borough where more than 50% of the local population is black and/or from ethnic minorities. Recruitment took place from March 2008 to March 2009.

Results 300 women were recruited during this period. The ethnic mix of this group was varied with 32% (n=97) of European origin, 27% (n=81) Africans and 11% (n=32) of women from Turkey.

80% of women, however regardless of ethnicity were vitamin D deficient at booking. Although the overall levels of vitamin D deficiency in our cohort were surprising, the increased prevalence in recognised high risk groups (ie, dark skinned/veiled women) correlates with published data.

Conclusion Further work is needed to locally introduce (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) guidelines for vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy and audit its efficacy following implementation.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.