ACTA SCIENTIFIC PAEDIATRICS Volume 2 Issue 8 August 2019 Status of Serum Vitamin D among Bangladeshi Children: Urban and Rural Settings Shafi Ahmed 1 *, Swapan Kumar Chowdhury 2 , Israt Ara Hossain 3 , Rabeya Yasmin 4 , Muhammad Mozammel Haque 5 , MH Faruquee 6 and AFM Salim 7 1 Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College and Hospital Enayetpur, Sirajgonj, Bangladesh 2 PhD Fellow, Bangladesh University of Professionals, Dhaka, Bangladesh 3 Senior Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, Dhaka, Bangladesh 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, Dhaka, Bangladesh 5 Consultant Pediatrics, Mahbubur Rahman Memorial Hospital and Nursing Institute, Rupashdi, Banchharampur, Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh 6 Associate Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, Dhaka, Bangladesh 7 Ex-Professor, Institute of Child Health and Shishu Swasthya Foundation Hospital, Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh *Corresponding Author: Shafi Ahmed, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College and Hospital, Enayetpur, Sirajgong, Bangladesh. Research Article Received: May 20, 2019; Published: July 02, 2019 Keywords: Serum Vitamin D; Children; Urban and Rural Settings; Bangladesh Abstract Vitamin D plays role in regulating cell growth, maintenance of body immunity, healthy musculoskeletal structure and function- ing other various biological activities in keeping people healthy. This study was a part of a community based cross sectional study which was conducted among 274 primary school children. Two primary schools were selected purposively (one from Dhaka city and one from Gazipur district). The male and female ratio was equal. The mean age of the students was 8.86 ± 2.035 years. Majority of the children were within 5 – 10 years (73.7%) and rest were within 10 – 14 years. The male and female ratio was equal. Among the participants 28.8% were in class I, 20.1% were in class II, and 16.4% were in class III, 17.9% in class IV and rest 16.8% were in class V. Among the study participants 48.2% were of rural areas and 51.8% were from urban area. Standardized anthropometric measure- ments of body weight and height were made by trained nurses. Venous blood was collected by trained phlebotomist. Estimation of serum vitamin D was done in one reference laboratory. It was found that 60.6%rural respondents had below 20 ng/ml of serum Vitamin D, while none of urban children had below 50ng/ml of Serum Vitamin D. Mean value is significantly different between rural and urban children (p < 0.05). On the other hand 26.3% of male and 32.1% female children had Serum Vitamin D below 20 ng/ml. No such statistical difference was observed between male and female. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency espe- cially among rural school going children in Bangladesh is very high and alarming which needs to explore the root cause. Introduction Vitamin D plays role in regulating cell growth, maintenance of body immunity, healthy musculoskeletal structure and functioning other various biological activities in keeping people healthy [1- 4]. Deficiency of Vitamin D has commonly been reported among people suffering from chronic pain which raise the question of its relationship [5-9]. American endocrinologist Holick mentioned that deficiency of Vitamin D might be the causes of muscular weak- ness and muscle pain among children and adults as well [10,11]. Persistent and nonspecific musculoskeletal pain has been observed at high risk by scientists due to unrecognized and untreated severe deficiency of Vitamin D [12]. Nutrition plays a vital role in the proper growth and develop- ment for children. Unfortunately, one child cannot receive enough DOI: 10.31080/ASPE.2019.02.0102 Citation: Shafi Ahmed., et al. “Status of Serum Vitamin D among Bangladeshi Children: Urban and Rural Settings”. Acta Scientific Paediatrics 2.8 (2019): 03-07.