Analysis of vitamin B12 and D deficiency and the effect of supplementation on patients at tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Vitamins are essential organic compounds for the body and the study aims to understand the extent of deficiency present among the patients tested for deficiency and the effect of supplementation. Our study also aims in understanding the effect of supplementation on treating the deficiency along with its effect on any secondary disease conditions present among the patients such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and/or hypertension. Assessment was carried out in randomly selected, 500 patients from the patient pool (March 2013 to March 2015) and supplemented with vitamins at KIMS hospital, Secunderabad. Data such as biochemical measures, medications, food supplements and herbal medicines were also taken into consideration. The assessment showed improvement in deficiency symptoms after supplementation. Along with this, the improvement in general health of patients that have secondary conditions was analyzed. The study shows that patients with osteoporosis are benefited by vitamin D supplementation and supplementation seems to also helped patients with pain in case of rheumatoid arthritis. Patients with diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease did not show much improvement with supplementation. Patients with hypertension solely or with other conditions show improvement with this problem compared to other conditions. We observed that supplementation does have a role in general health improvement in patients with some chronic conditions. Keywords: vitamin D; vitamin B12; deficiency; general health; supplementation