Study of Vitamin-D status in patients with Low Backache

AUTHOR(s) : Dr. Papori Borah, Dr. Firdushi Begum
DOI No. :

ABSTRACT :
Introduction: Apart from its established role in calcium homeostasis, studies have found vitamin D to be very much important for the normal maintenance and functioning of the muscles and nerves. Aims : This study was planned i) to study the vitamin D levels in patients of low back ache ii) compare it with a control population under a standard protocol. Methods : The study was designed as a case control study, with 100 cases and 100 age and sex matched controls. Patients with complaint of low backache visiting the Neurology OPD of GMCH were included in the study and after doing the required general and neurological examination, a sample of venous blood was collected for vitamin D estimation. Results : In this study mean vitamin D level in the case group was found to be 29.19 ng/ml and in the control group 38.45ng/ml. P- value was found to be <.0001, indicating an extremely significant difference between the two values. Another significant finding was that vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was found to be more in females as compared to males both in the case and control group. 77.5% of the female patients as compared to 45% of male patients had below normal vitamin D levels. Conclusion : There is a high possibility that vitamin D deficiency has a role to play in the aetiology of low backache. But more research is to be undertaken to know the exact pathogenic mechanism implicating low vitamin D levels in low backache. Key words : Hypovitaminosis D, myopathy, pro-inflammatory, skeletal, supplementation.

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