LEVELS OF VITAMIN D IN PATIENTS WITH LOW BACKACHE

Background: along with many factors vitamin d is considered to have role in lower backache. the objective of this study was to determine the levels of vitamin d in patients of low backache. material & methods: this descriptive study was conducted at pakistan institute of medical sciences, peshawar over a period of 10 months in 2013. five hundred patients having low backache were included in the study through non-probability consecutive sampling. a performa including the demographic information, color of skin, veil observation practice, menstrual history and bmi was recorded. blood was taken and vitamin d levels measured. levels <20 ng/dl were taken as deficient, 20-30 ng/dl insufficient and >30 ng/dl as normal. results: mean age of patients was 41.13+15.22 years with 237(47.4%) males and 263(52.6%) females. vitamin d levels were below normal in 442(88.4%) and normal in 50(10%) cases. on bmi basis 91.66% with bmi >25 kg/m^2 had low vitamin d levels as compared to 86.56% with bmi <25 kg/m^2. among females 89.19% were of reproductive-age and had lower vitamin d levels as compared to 88.76% of menopausal females. regarding veil observation 6.49% of veil observing females had normal level as compared to 19.28% of non-veil observing females. in respect to skin complexion 27(13.86%) had normal levels among dark complexion as compared to 23(9.67%) with fair complexion. conclusion: vitamin d deficiency is present in majority of patients with idiopathic lower back pain and should be considered a contributing factor