Assessment of Vitamin D Levels among Children and Adolescents with Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Vitamin D plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus (DM) in children. Researches suggest that its deficiency is associated with an increased risk of developing Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in children. Vitamin D helps in the regulation of insulin secretion and sensitivity, and its deficiency may contribute to improper diabetes control and increased diabetes complications in children and adolescents.Aims: The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and parameters of controls in children and adolescents with diabetes.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Basrah Maternity and Children Hospital and Faiha Specialized Diabetes, Endocrine, and Metabolism Center. All the new and old cases who attended the study centers with DM (TIDM or T2DM) or complications of DM were included, the study period was from March 2023 to March 2024, in Basrah governorate, the southern part of Iraq. The demographic and clinical data were gathered using an organized questionnaire and medical records. HbA1c, RBS, and 25 OH cholecalciferol levels were measured. After data collection, SPSS version 26 was used for statistical analysis.Results: The vitamin D levels among the 107 children and adolescents with type one and type two diabetes who enrolled in the study were: 62 (57.9%) had a deficiency, 25 (23.4%) had insufficiency, and 20 (18.7%) had sufficient levels. In comparison to the sufficient and insufficient group, the vitamin D deficiency group's participants were significantly older (p =0.038), and lived in rural regions 65 (60.7%). Additionally, the vitamin D deficient group had higher mean values of random blood sugar (RBS) 227.41±25.31 mg/dL and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) 7.72±0.47 % values; however, these differences did not achieve statistical significance. A negative correlation was found between the number of hospital admissions in the last year (r= -0.177), the number of diabetic keto-acidosis (DKA) in the last year (r= 0.154), the number of hypoglycemia episodes (r= -0.120), and BMI (r= -0.252) with the serum vitamin D levels. Additionally, a negative correlation was found between HbA1c values (r= -0.131) and RBS values (r= -0.260) with the serum vitamin D levelsConclusion: This study found no significant association between serum vitamin D levels and poor diabetes control. However, the deficient group showed higher rates of poor clinical and laboratory indices.