Prevalence of deficiency of vitamin D in a population of pregnant women who are assisted in the Pereira Rossell Central Hospital

Introduction: vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women may be harmful or the mother's and the child's health if it is not adequately diagnosed and treated. Its deficiency has been associated to several obstetric complications such as pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes and diabetes of the newborn, low birth weight and hypocalcemia; poor postnatal growth, bone fragility and increase if autoimmune disorders. Multiple studies show that vitamin D deficiency happens very frequently, between 18% and 84%, depending on the population studied. However, there are no national data. Objective: to learn about the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in a population of pregnant women in the Pereira Rossell Hospital center, a public hospital of Montevideo, Method: surveys that were specially designed and blood tests in pregnant women during their third trimester of pregnancy for creatininemia, total calcium in blood and albuminemia, serum 25(OH)D-3 and intact PTH were determined, upon the signature of an informed consent. A concentration of vitamin D < 10 ng/ml was considered to be a severe deficiency, 10-20 ng/ml was deficient, 20-30 ng/ml was insufficient and >30 ng/ml was considered to be sufficient. Results: out of 71 samples analysed, 3 (4.3%) revealed sufficient levels, 18 were insufficient (25.7%), 30 were deficient (42.9%) and 19 were severely deficient (27.1%). Conclusions: just as it happens globally, vitamin D deficiency in the population studied is extraordinarily frequent. Attention needs to paid to this issue to avoid complications in pregnant women and newborns.