Ludhiana: Sameer Verma, a yarn trader from posh South City area, hardly gets time to sit under the sun as he mostly spends time indoors at home and even when he goes to his office in Cheema Chowk, he goes there in his car. As he felt lethargic, and body ache, he went to see a doctor, who got various tests done and found him to be Vitamin D deficient.
“After the doctor told me that I have Vitamin D deficiency around four months ago, he prescribed me Vitamin D sachets, which I am taking and I am feeling better now,” said Verma. “On the advice of my doctor, I have also made some change in my lifestyle and I do sit in the sun in morning hours.”
Many like Verma have Vitamin D deficiency. Specialists in various city hospitals say that they get several such patients frequently.
Dr Naveen Mittal, professor of endocrinology at DMCH, says “Of the persons we suspect to be deficient in Vitamin D, test of 60-70% confirms the same. We get around 40 tests done in a day of which around 25 patients are found deficient in Vitamin D. We see almost 10-15 such patients in a day, who have Vitamin D deficiency, even as they come with other problems like diabetes. The number of such patients is now almost the same as before Covid-19 even as during the pandemic it was high as people remained indoors due to the infection prevalent. As Vitamin D is important for bone and muscle health, its deficiency results in body ache, muscle aches and non-specific pain, lethargy and muscle weakness.” He suggested that majority of the patients were elderly, who don’t go out much, but they do get younger patients as well.
The doctors say that majority of Vitamin D deficient patients are females.
“Of the patient we see in the endocrinology department, 80-90% have vitamin D deficiency. They are mostly above 30 years of age, but there are younger patients as well who have such deficiency due to sedentary lifestyle. Majority of patients are females. They have general weakness and fatigue as symptoms,” said Dr Aakshi Jiwan, medicine specialist at CMCH Hospital.
The specialists say that cases of Vitamin D deficiency had been there for a long time, but more patients are coming for treatment due to diagnostic facilities.
“More than a decade ago, there were fewer number of tests done in Ludhiana for Vitamin D deficiency. But with increase in diagnostic facilities, the number of tests have increased and so have the cases of such deficiency. There is growing awareness among people about such cases as more people are getting themselves tested for it,” said Dr Mani Kant Singla, a city-based endocrinologist, who sees around 20-25 patients with Vitamin D deficiency in a day. He added that as Ludhiana was an industrial city with sizeable number of people involved in business activity, many of them have sedentary lifestyle that causes such deficiency.
The specialists advise people to take certain steps to avoid such a scenario.
“In Indians, due to genetic factors, people have less Vitamin D. It is a vitamin that is important for functioning of various organs of the body so people should not be deficient in this. Clothing matters in Vitamin D formation as if a person is fully covered, exposure of skin-to-sun is least that reflects on Vitamin D formation. So the people should wear clothes that don’t stop the exposure of skin to sun light,” said Ludhiana IMA president Dr Gaurav Sachdeva. “Also, people should avoid using sunscreen, especially in the morning hours, and sit under the sun for sometime during this time.”
Dr Naveen Mittal said people should get sunlight for requisite time between 8am and 11am and ensure exposure of upper arms, legs and face to the sun. He added that those who travel by vehicles and think that they are getting sun rays should know that the rays for formation of Vitamin D are blocked by the window glass of the vehicles.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in children as well: Doctors
Dr Naveen Bajaj, a city-based child specialist at a private hospital, said Vitamin D deficiency was quite common among children as well and a sizeable percentage of children have it.
He added that though in most of the cases, it is expected to be mild but there are cases wherein prolonged severe deficiency results in rickets (severe bone shape deformity) and I see around 4-5 such cases in a year.
“As the deficiency is quite common among children, we normally give 400 IU (international units) to them,” said Dr Bajaj.