Vitamin D status in healthy black African adults at a tertiary hospital in Nairobi, Kenya: a cross sectional study
Publication Date
2018-12-01Author
Elizabeth Kagotho, Geoffrey Omuse, Nancy Okinda, Peter Ojwang
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Show full item recordAbstract/ Overview
Vitamin D has been known since the twentieth Century for its benefits in bone health. Recent observational studies have demonstrated its benefits in infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. This has led to a dramatic increase in testing among adults.
The cut-offs for vitamin D deficiency have been debated for decades and the current cut off is derived from a Caucasian population. Studies done among black African adults in Africa are few with vitamin D deficiency ranging from 5 to 91%. A few cut- offs have correlated vitamin D deficiency to physiological markers such as parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium and phosphate with varying results.