Pharmacy Daily | Vitamin D deficiency alert

RESEARCHERS from the University of Sydney have suggested a review of current guidelines for Vitamin D supplementation and testing, after a study which revealed that “large segments of the Australian population are at risk of deficiency for prolonged periods of the year”. Professor Steven Boyages from Sydney Medical School and his PhD student Kellie Bilinski looked at vitamin D levels in more than 24,000 samples taken from walk-in patients and inpatients in NSW between Jul 2008 and Jul 2010, investigating the effect of age, gender, season, socioeconomic status and remoteness on results. They found that the lowest point was reached in early spring, rather than winter as previously thought, and that vitamin D deficiency was “higher and more persistent” than had been formerly understood. A previously unidentified at risk group for vitamin D deficiency was also found to be females aged 20- 39, with further investigation required to discover the underlying cause of this. Professor Boyages said that ideally testing should occur in spring when levels of vitamin D reach their lowest concentration, and “similarly, use of vitamin D supplements currently fails to address this factor of seasonal variation”.

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