Low vitamin D prevalence at the GP practice

There was recently a recommendation by the Scientific Advisory Committee on nutrition that suggests everyone from the age of 1 year should take vitamin D supplements.¹ The plan is still in consultation, but it highlights the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the population.² We have conducted a study of the prevalence of low vitamin D at Garswood general practice surgery, in Northwest England. We took the value of 75 nmol/l as the cut-off for low in vitamin D level. A total of 302 patients had their vitamin D level checked, of which an average of 90% across all age groups had low vitamin D.

The findings correlates with a global meta-analysis study, where close to 90% of the samples had levels <75 nmol/l, although variability exists across region, sex and age.³ We used the 75 nmol/l level as a cut-off as a matter of simplicity for comparison, but we are aware of the ambiguity that still exists about the absolute cut-off level defined as low vitamin D.^4–5 In view of the recent findings and recommendation, we believe we should look into devising a systematic way of screening and supplementing everyone with vitamin D.