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Background: Vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D) affects over one billion people worldwide. Vitamin D deficiency results in progression of osteoporosis as well as other conditions. Previous studies have shown high rates of vitamin D deficiency in Pakistan despite appreciable levels of sunshine. However, none have assessed vitamin D deficiency across all age groups, genders, incomes, and locations to guide future strategies.Objective: To determine the frequency of vitamin D deficiency in opd patients presenting in a tertiary care hospital in Rawalpindi.Methodology: The cross-sectional study involving 1075 consecutive patients was conducted at the out-patient department of Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi, from January 2020 to December 2022.Patients of all age groups were included in the study, while those having renal or liver failure and using drugs that could potentially cause a decrease in vitamin D3 were excluded. SPSS 25 was used for statistical analyses.Results:A total of 1075 patients visits Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi in the selected time span. Out of those about 1075 patients presented with signs and symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency were referred for the Vitamin D assessment. I collected data of 1075 patients.According to my study out of 1075 patients during my research period ,332 were males and 743 were females with Vitamin D deficiency. This shows that Vitamin D deficiency was more prevelant in the females as compare to males.Percentage of females was 69% and of males was 31%.My research study shows that Vitamin D deficiency was most common in age group of 26 -52 out of 5 groups . 26-52 age group contain 515 patients.After calculating frequency for all five stages of Vitamin D deficiency it was observed that stage 2 was most frequent among all patients diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency. Conclusion: The study revealed a high percentage of vitamin D deficient individuals. The frequency of vitamin D deficiency increased considerably with age and most commonly affected age group is 26-52. According to our analysis, there is a high prevalence of VDD, especially among females than males due to less exposed to sunlight and not taking Vitamin D rich supplements or diet. Prevelance of Vitamin D defeciency in females can be lowered by maintaining the normal levels of Vitamin D . There is a need to take immediate measures to challenge this growing public health problem,including food fortification, i.e. nurture, alongside increasing exposure to sunlight, i.e. nature. There is also a need for yearly comprehensive nation-wide analyses on vitamin D levels.

Copyright © 2023 Farheen Shahid . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.