Ahead of print Pak J Med Sci March - April 2019 Vol. 35 No. 2 www.pjms.com.pk 1 Correspondence: Dr. Khemchand N Moorani, FCPS, MCPS, MBBS. Professor of Pediatric Nephrology, National Institute of Child Health, Rafquee Shaheed Road, Adjacent JPMC, Karachi, Pakistan. E-mail: khemchandn@hotmail.com * Received for Publication: October 19, 2018 * Revision Received: February 12, 2019 * Revision Accepted: February13, 2019 INTRODUCTION Vitamin D plays an important role in body’s immunological functions, nutritional status, physical and cognitive growth of children. 1 Vitamin D defciency and VD insuffciency has been found in all age groups including children and pregnant mothers belonging to different socioeconomic strata from all over the World. 2,3 Original Article Vitamin D status in under fve children in diverse communities of Karachi Khemchand N Moorani 1 , Muhammad Ayaz Mustufa 2 , Syed Furqan Hasan 3 , Naseem Kubar 4 ABSTRACT Background & Objective: Vitamin D defciency (VDD) prevalence is very high in pediatric population in developing countries including Pakistan. VDD contribute signifcantly to morbidity and mortality among children under fve years. Therefore, it is vital to study vitamin D levels in population for future interventions and disease control. Our objective was to determine 25(OH)D levels in children of one to 59 months of age in socio-economically diverse communities of Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: The cross- sectional analytical survey was carried out over 6 months from January -June 2017. Following proportionate sampling technique four clusters were randomly selected from Korangi, Saddar, Sindhi para and Manzoor colony, Karachi. Blood samples for 25(OH)D and zinc levels were carried out using ELISA and colorimetry. VD level <20 ng/ml was defned as VDD and serum zinc <65ug/dl as low zinc levels. Data including area of residency, gender, ethnicity, parent’s education, family income, house status, duration of sun exposure and history of VD and zinc intake in last 3 months was collected from parents / care seekers on pretested and pre-coded semi-structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS version-20. Frequencies and percentages were computed for categorical variables like gender, type of malnutrition whereas mean with standard deviation was used for VD and zinc levels and vitamin D status was compared in three different residential categories according to nutritional status. Results: Out of 120 children, 67 (56%) were boys and 53 (44%) girls. Mean VD level was 22.8±14.8 ng/ ml. Around 60% (70) children were VD defcient, whereas 15 % (18) had insuffcient 25(OH)D levels. VDD was more prevalent among low socio-economic group with no obvious difference in age category. Mean zinc level was 123.8±47.45 ug/dl and it was either normal or high (42%) rather than low. Malnutrition was observed in 65% children and majority (82%) of them were undernourished. Optimal sun exposure was reported in 24% children only. Conclusion: Vitamin D defciency was highly prevalent in our study population. Children of low socio- economic strata and with sub-optimal sun light exposure are at high risk of vitamin D defciency. Unexpectedly, high zinc levels in majority of our children with low VD status needs further evidence to substantiate this inverse relation. KEYWORDS: Vitamin D status; Zinc Levels; Nutritional Status; Sun light exposure. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.2.680 How to cite this: Moorani KN, Mustufa MA, Hasan SF, Kubar N. Vitamin D status in under fve children in diverse communities of Karachi. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(2):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.2.680 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.