Vitamin D status in normal and disabled school children

Aim: to find out the vitamin d level in normal and disabled children. study design: descriptive cross-sectional study place and duration of study: this study was carried out in a school managed by an ngo,pakistan society for rehabilitation of disabled (psrd) in lahoreon 22 feb 2016. methodology: a total of fifty students including 16 normal and 34 disabled were consecutively inducted blood samples for vitamin d level were drawn in gel tubes and transported to laboratory where tests were performed on abbott architect immunodiagnostics system using chemiluminescence technology patented as chemiflex.data were analyzed using spss version 23.the results are interpreted as means,giving standard deviations. comparison of mean vitamin d levels were made among normal and disabled,male and female students byusing t-test. results: our study included a total of fifty students. out of these 34(68%) were disabled and 16(32%) were normal. mean age was 11 years. out of the total students,half were boys (50%) and half girls (50%). mean vitamin d level was 17ng/dl (sd=12.6),with minimum level of 10 ng/dl and maximum of 66ng/dl. a total of 42(84%) students have below normal vitamin d level and 8(16%) normal level. thirty sevenstudents (74%) were having vitamin d deficiency and 5 (10%) vitamin d insufficiency. boys have a mean 16ng/dl (sd=13.6) and girls have 19.7ng/dl (sd=11.5) of vitamin d level,respectively. statistically the observed difference was insignificant (p-value,0.31).mean vitamin d level of disabled students was 20 ng/dl (sd=14) while mean vitamin d level of normal student was 13ng/dl (sd=5.8). the observed difference was of no statistical importance (p-value= 0.06) conclusion: our study reveals a significant number of students are suffering from low vitamin d level andno difference between vitamin d levels of disabled and normal childrenpresent.