Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is a common condition prevalent among both developed and developing countries where it is seen mostly in females. It has been linked to various skeletal and non-skeletal diseases. This study was done to find out the distribution of Vitamin D deficiency attending the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done among the patients attending the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methodology: The six months study was conducted from January 2019 to July 2019. The ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee of the institute where we conducted the study. Convenient sampling was done. The collected data was entered in Microsoft Excel and was analyzed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Results: Out of 170 participants, the distribution of vitamin D deficiency was 24 (14.1%) and insufficient vitamin D in 59 (34.7%) of the patients. The mean serum vitamin D concentration by gender was 33.20±13.10ng/ml in males and 29.85±9.99 ng/ml in females. Mean age of deficient cases are 18.25±23.47 years and for sufficient cases mean age is 6.92±7.36 years. A total of 16 females and 8 males had vitamin D deficiency. Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency was prevalent especially in girl child.

Thalassemias and hemoglobinopathies are the most common hemolytic congenital disorders in Bangladesh as in many parts of the world. This study was done to find the common types of thalassemias and abnormal hemoglobin variants seen in Bangladeshi populations. A total of 4813 samples were analyzed for hemoglobin disorders out of which 2308 (49.95%) showed abnormalities. The samples were analyzed by Bio Rad D 10 Analyzer in 3914 (81.32%) cases, BIORAD VARIANTβ thalassemia short program using the principle of high performance liquid chromatography in 474 (9.85%) cases and by CAPILLARYS 2 FLEX PIERCING utilizing capillary electrophoresis in 425 (8.83%) cases. The samples were analyzed in the

Thalassaemia is the most common hereditary disorder in the world including Bangladesh. Beta thalassaemia major and Hb-E thalassaemia both are common in our country. Iron overload causes most of the mortality and morbidity associate with thalassaemia. To assess the iron over load and liver function a cross sectional comparative study was carried out in the Department of Biochemistry, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka in collaboration with Thalassaemia Center and Department of Pathology, Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Dhaka during the period of July 2006 to June 2007. The study was carried out with the patients who visited regularly in Dhaka Shishu Hospital Thalassaemia Centre (DSHTC) and had multiple transfusions (more than five) and age more than 2 years. To compare the state of liver function with normal healthy individuals' normal healthy persons were also included. Total 70 subjects were included in this study. The study subjects were distributed into two groups, the group -A (cases, n=40) and group -B (healthy controls, n=30). According to the major types of thalassaemia present in our country, group -A again divided into two, group -AI β-thalassaemia major (n=12) and group -AII of Hemoglobin E β-thalassaemia (n=28). The mean of serum Bilirubin in group -A and group -B were (2.04 ±0.70) mg/dl and (0.67±0.15) mg/dl respectively. Group -A had higher serum bilirubin than group -B in p value <0.001.The mean level of serum bilirubin in group -AI was (1.70±0.70)mg/dl and the mean of bilirubin in group AII was (2.18±0.66) mg/dl. Group -AI had lower serum bilirubin than group AII in p value <0.05. Pearson's correlation between serum bilirubin and serum ferritin had r value -0.26 was statistically not significant. Mean level of serum ferritin in the total was (2729.40 ± 1935.87) ng/ml, minimum level was 304 ng/ml and maximum was 7256ng/ml. Mean level of serum ferritin in the patients of β -thalassaemia major was (4098.67 ± 1598.63) ng/ml, minimum level was 1212ng/ml and maximum was 7560ng/ml. Mean level of serum ferritin in the patients of HbE β -thalassaemia was (2232.57± 1598.63) ng/ml, minimum level was 304ng/ml and maximum was 630ng/ml. Group AI had higher level of serum ferritin than group AII in p value <0.05.In conclusion, iron over load and jaundice are common finding of thalassaemia. In this present study serum ferritin and serum bilirubin parameter of iron over load and jaundice are correlated. But no statistical correlation was found between these two parameters.

Graphical abstract

Tribal population constitutes 1.8 percent of total population of Bangladesh. The study was conducted in the tribal population of Bangladesh to detect haemoglobinopathies and beta thalassemia trait. Another purpose of the study was to create awareness about thalassaemia and haemoglobinopathies among these indigenous groups. It was a cross sectional study conducted from September 2015 to November 2015. A total of 460 random samples were collected from three tribal groups, 175 cases from Chakma, 187 cases from Garo and 98 cases from Marma. Two cc of venous blood were collected in EDTA tube. Haemoglobin variants were studied by HPLC method using Variant Hemoglobin Testing System (Variant II Beta Thalassemia Short Program). Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS statistical package (version 15). Data was analyzed by frequency distribution. Abnormal Haemoglobin variants were seen in 287 cases (62.4%) out of 460 cases and only173 cases (37.6%) showed normal haemoglobin pattern. Haemoglobin E trait was the most common abnormality seen in 164 cases (35.6%) followed by Haemoglobin E disease which was seen in 101 cases (22%), Beta thalassaemia trait was seen in 22 cases (4.8%). This study shows a high percentage of Haemoglobin E trait and Haemoglobin E disease. Beta thalassaemia trait is also higher in comparison with randomly selected general population of Bangladesh. After calculating the estimate burden of child born per year by Harding Weinberg equation, it was to be found that the significant result which shows that 1552 new haemoglobin E beta thalassaemia and 22 new beta thalassaemia patients born per year in the tribal population. So, the tribal population should be properly screened and counseled for thalassaemia and haemoglobinopathies.