Poor Control of Diabetes May Be Linked to Low Vitamin D

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100621091209.htm

Science News

Poor Control of Diabetes May Be Linked to Low Vitamin D

ScienceDaily (June 21, 2010) — Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in patients with Type 2 diabetes and may be associated with poor blood sugar control, according to a new study.

The results are being presented at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

"This finding supports an active role of vitamin D in the development of Type 2 diabetes," said study co-author Esther Krug, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at The s Hopkins University School of Medicine and an endocrinologist at Sinai Hospital, Baltimore.

Krug and her colleagues reviewed the medical charts of 124 patients with Type 2 diabetes who came to an endocrine outpatient clinic for specialty care from 2003 to 2008. Patients' age ranged from 36 to 89 years. All patients had a single measurement of their serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels as part of their evaluation at the clinic. The researchers divided the patients into quartiles based on vitamin D level.

Despite receiving regular primary care visits before referral to the endocrine clinic, 91 percent of patients had either vitamin D deficiency (defined as a level below 15 nanograms per deciliter, or ng/dL) or insufficiency (15 to 31 ng/dL), the authors reported. Only about 6 percent of patients were taking vitamin D supplements at their first visit.

Additionally, the investigators found an inverse relationship between the patients' blood levels of vitamin D and their hemoglobin A1c value, a measure of blood sugar control over the past several months. Lower vitamin D levels were discovered in patients with higher average blood sugars as measured by HbA1c, Krug said. Compared with whites, blacks had a higher average A1c and lower average vitamin D level.

"Since primary care providers diagnose and treat most patients with Type 2 diabetes, screening and vitamin D supplementation as part of routine primary care may improve health outcomes of this highly prevalent condition," she said.