Evaluation of Serum Vitamin D Levels in Diabetic Foot Infections: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Care Center in South India

Background: the impact of diabetic foot infections is enormous in india. studies on vitamin d levels in diabetes mellitus foot infections are scarce. the primary objective of the present study was to compare the serum vitamin d level between diabetics with foot infections and those without foot infections and the secondary objective was to assess the association between the vitamin d level and the severity of foot infections and outcomes. methods: the study included 176 type 2 diabetics who attended jawaharlal institute of postgraduate medical education and research, pondicherry, india, between september 2012 and june 2014. the serum vitamin d level was measured for 88 diabetics with foot infections (group 1) and 88 without foot infections (group 2) using the elisa 25oh vitamin d diasource kit (diasource immunoassays s.a., belgium) and compared. both groups were followed up for 6 months for outcomes. the qualitative variables were analyzed using the χ2 test and the quantitative variables using the student t test. the statistical analyses were performed using spss, version 17.0. a p value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. results: the mean serum vitamin d level was not significantly different between the two groups (p=0.306). among the patients in group 1 who either required amputations or died, 97.44% had subnormal vitamin d levels in contrast to 59.18% in those who were grafted or achieved wound healing (p=0.001). among those who achieved wound healing within 6 months, 78.9% had normal vitamin d levels (p=0.0006). conclusion: the study found no significant difference in the serum level of vitamin d between diabetics with and without foot infections. however, vitamin d deficiency was associated with a poor outcome in diabetics with foot infections.