Frequency of Vitamin D deficiency in children under five years of age in a tertiary care hospital of Pakistan.

Objective: To determine the frequency of vitamin-D deficiency in children under five years of age. Study Design: Cross-sectional-survey. Setting: Department of Pediatrics, Gulab Devi Hospital, Lahore. Period: 01-6-2022 to 1-12-2022. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was done in the Department of Pediatrics, Gula Devi Hospital, Lahore. One hundred children, with fever, flu cough or presented for vaccination or routine check-up were included via Non-probability consecutive sampling. Children were assessed for vitamin D level. Data analysis was done in SPSS v. 25.0. Results: In this study, there were 100 children included with mean age of 3.8 ± 1.1 years. There were 25 (25%) male children and 75 (75%) female children. The mean duration of sun exposure per 24 hours was 1.8 ± 0.6 hours, and previous history of vitamin-D deficiency was noted in 3 (3.0%) cases. Mean vitamin-D level was calculated as 24.75 ± 9.90 ng/ml in all the children. Out of 100 children, 62 (62.0%) children had vitamin-D deficiency. Conclusion: According to this data, “the chances of vitamin D deficiency are higher in children less than 5 years of age belong to local community.”