Abstract
Aims: To determine the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in children (age 6 month - 5 years), presenting with recurrent sino-pulmonary infections, in an out-patient department setting. Methods: It was a descriptive study conducted in children age 6 month to 5 years, from November 2010 to December 2011. 1000 children were enrolled and their data recorded on a predesigned proforma. Results:Of 1000 cases, 830(83.0%) children had Vitamin D3 deficient levels (group I), 112(11.2%) had insufficient levels (group II), which constitutes 94.2%, 57(5.7%) had desirable levels (group III) and 1(0.1%) had vitamin D intoxication (group IV). Among the age group more number of children were seen between 1-3 year. 236(23.6%) were between 1 to 2 years, 256(25.6%) were between 2 to 3 years. Males constituted 602(60.2%) and females were 398(39.8%). Majority had bronchiolitis 356(35.6%) followed by pneumonia 320(32.0%), otitis media 194(19.4%) and acute tonsillitis 134(13.4%). In Group I (n=830) more common diseases were bronchiolitis 352(42.4%) and pneumonia 296(35.6%) and less common was acute tonsillitis 72(8.6%). In Group II (n=112),52(46.42%) had bronchiolitis and 32(28.5%) had pneumonia and less common was acute tonsillitis 10(8.9%). In Group III (n=57) predominant diagnosis was tonsillitis [23(40.35%)] followed by bronchiolitis [9(15.7%)]. Conclusions: Children (6 month - 5 years) with recurrent sino-pulmonary infections i.e. (bronchiolitis, pneumonias, otitis media and acute tonsillitis) had a tendency to have deficient serum vitamin D3 level. It is recommended that vitamin D3 level should be assessed in all those children suffering from recurrent respiratory infections.
