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Doctors should be aware of vitamin D deficiency prevalence, experts say

Category: Vitamin D Deficiency-Diagnosis and Treatment

Vitamin D deficiency is much more common than many people are aware. For this reason, experts say that doctors need to be conscious of their patients' risk factors and recommend blood tests to determine vitamin D status if it appears someone may be deficient.

Leigh Montejo, a nurse practitioner who practices at the Metropolitan Community Health Services Agape Clinic in Washington, North Carolina, wrote in Clinical Advisor that she recently treated a patient who had gone through long bouts of unexplained fatigue and mood swings. The patient assumed that it was a part of aging, but blood tests revealed that it was actually vitamin D deficiency.

"It is important in primary care not to overlook the practice of appropriately screening patients for vitamin D deficiency. This case highlights how taking an appropriate history can go a long way towards identifying at-risk patients," Montejo wrote in the news source.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that about one-third of U.S. adults have dangerously low levels of vitamin D. With such a high percentage of the population suffering from this problem, doctors need to be aware of the warning signs.