Objective: To study the vitamin D status among the Bhutanese population visiting the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Materials and methods: This is a retrospective descriptive study involving the extraction of data from a hospital database. Records of Bhutanese patients who had taken vitamin D tests in the last two years (2020-2021) were included in the study.
Result: A total of 1175 individuals took the vitamin D test during the study period, and the age ranged between 1 day and 94 years. Over 60% of the participants were females. The study found that over 83% of our study population had serum vitamin D levels lower than the normal range/deficient. Around 18% of the participants had severe deficiency.
Conclusion: The study found that most participants, including children, had vitamin D deficiency, and the finding was homogenous across gender and age groups. Further studies are required to validate these findings and identify the factors associated with vitamin D deficiency in the population for targeted public health interventions.
Keywords: Bhutan; deficiency; hospital; vitamin D.
Copyright: © 2023 Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.