Role of vitamin D on health & impact of Lockdown on the blood vitamin D levels observed in Kolkata, India
Abstract
Prof. Sukanta Bandyopadhyay
Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin has important role on a variety of skeletal and non-skeletal diseases. Various non-communicable diseases (hypertension, diabetes, CVD etc.) are associated with low vitamin D blood levels. These co-morbidities, together with concomitant vitamin D deficiency, increase the risk of severe COVID-19 events. Now more attention is paid to the importance of vitamin D status for the development and course of the disease. Particularly in Lockdown, the method used to control the pandemic, the skin's natural vitamin D synthesis is reduced when people have few opportunities to be exposed to the sun. Vitamin D made in the skin or ingested in the diet is biologically inert and requires two successive hydroxylation, first in the liver on carbon 25 to form 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], and then in the kidney for a hydroxylation on carbon 1 to form the biologically active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D] or Calcitriol. 25(OH)D is the major circulating form of vitamin D that has a half life of approximately 2-3 weeks. 25(OH)D is a summation of both vitamin D intake and vitamin D that is produced from sun exposure. 25(OH)D is the only vitamin D metabolite that is used to determine whether a patient is vitamin D deficient, sufficient or intoxicated. In our Diagnostic laboratory we have measured the serum Total 25(OH) Vitamin D of 100 samples collected from the patients of Kolkata (during July & August 2020) in auto-analyser VITROS 5600 using Enhanced Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (ECLIA) method. In this lecture we will discuss the different aspects of vitamin D on health & probable effect of Lockdown on the status of blood vitamin D of the subjects in Kolkata, India.
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