Vitamin D deficiency in veiled Kuwaiti women

Objective: To study vitamin D deficiency in veiled Kuwaiti women. Design: Prospective on cases and volunteers. Setting: The medical department in a general hospital in Kuwait serving about 300 000 persons (Adan Hospital). Subjects: The authors saw four cases of unexplained vitamin D deficiency osteomalacia in otherwise healthy veiled Kuwaiti women. This stimulated us to study 50 veiled volunteer Kuwaiti women aged between 14 and 45 years old who had three children or less, and 22 unveiled volunteer Kuwaiti women with matched age and number of children as control. Interventions: Blood samples were taken to check levels of 25-hydroxy cholecalciferol, calcium, phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase. Blood urea, serum creatinine, serum bilirubin, serum alanine transaminase, serum aspartate transaminase, serum lactic dehydroginase, prothrombin time, urine for proteins and pH were checked to exclude renal and hepatic disease. Results: showed subclinical vitamin D deficiency among veiled women and two cases of clinically overt osteomalacia were discovered among the veiled volunteers suggesting a high prevalence of the disease among veiled Kuwaiti women.