Two thirds of South Asians have low Vitamin D (less than 20 ng) – meta-analysis Oct 2021

---

High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the South Asian adults:
a systematic review and meta-analysis

BMC Public Health. 2021 Oct 9;21(1):1823. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11888-1.
Mahbubul H Siddiqee # 1 2, Badhan Bhattacharjee # 3 4, Umme Ruman Siddiqi 5, Mohammad MeshbahurRahman 6
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

Background: Vitamin-D deficiency is linked to a wide range of chronic and infectious diseases. Body of literature suggested that the prevalence of this deficiency can have geographical variation. Although vitamin D deficiency is frequently reported in the South Asian population, the scarcity of systematic reviews and meta-analysis means the true extent of the disease and the underlying factors causing it are poorly characterized.

Methods: A systematic search was performed using two databases (PubMed and Scopus) and one search engine (Google Scholar) for original studies on the South Asian population (published from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2019). Following the search, a random effect meta-analysis was performed to calculate population-level weighted average, the pooled prevalence of deficiency, and heterogeneity of vitamin D among different countries and genders; in addition to South Asia as a whole.

Results: Our study, based on our selection criteria was narrowed down to a total of 44,717 participants; which spanned over 65 studies from five South Asian countries. Overall, the pooled prevalence of deficiency was 68% [95% CI: 64 to 72%] with significant heterogeneity (I2 = 98%; p = 0.00). The average level of vitamin D ranged from 4.7 to 32 ng/mL, with a weighted mean of 19.15 ng/mL (weighted standard deviation 11.59 ng/mL). The highest prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was found in

• Pakistan (73%;95% CI: 63 to 83%) followed by
• Bangladesh (67%; 95% CI: 50 to 83%),
• India (67%; 95% CI: 61 to 73%),
• Nepal (57%; 95% CI: 53 to 60%) and
• Sri Lanka (48%; 95% CI: 41 to 55%), respectively.

This finding indicated a high degree of heterogeneity among the population. (I2 = 98.76%), Furthermore, a gender-wise analysis suggested that in South Asia, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was higher in females than males.

Conclusion: Our findings reveal highly prevalent and variable vitamin D deficiency among the adults of different South Asian countries. Findings from this review would be helpful to generate hypotheses and explore the factors affecting the inter-country

---

VitaminDWiki

• Need 1 hour of noon sun to get Hijab women to 20 ng of Vitamin D (cloth) – June 2019
• Vitamin D levels in 56 countries (many have less than 20 ng) – 2021
• Deficiency of Vitamin D category listing has 468 items

VitaminDWiki pages containing INDIA in title (48 as of March 2022)

This list is automatically updated

VitaminDWiki pages containing PAKISTAN in title (6 as of Oct 2021)

This list is automatically updated

Need much more than 20 ng

• Saudi study defines normal Vitamin D level to be 50 to 70 ng (diabetes, etc.) - June 2020
• Miraculous Physiological Activities of Vitamin D (30 to 100 ng) – Dec 2019
• Is 50 ng of vitamin D too high, just right, or not enough
• 93 percent of US children had less than 40 ng of vitamin D a decade ago – Oct 2021
• Need 40 to 60 ng of Vitamin D – 48 scientists call for action – 2015
• Consensus Vitamin D category listing has 71 items
• Optimum category listing has 99 items