Vitamin D deficiency in dengue fever patients' coinfected with H. pylori in Pakistan. A case-control study.

Introduction: Dengue fever is a vector-borne disease with an estimate of 390 million persons getting the infection each year with a significant public health impact. It has been reported DENV patients with vitamin D deficiency led to severe form of dengue infection; while H. pylori coinfection alters vitamin D receptors leading to vitamin D deficiency. We hypothesize that DENV patient's having low vitamin D along with H. pylori coinfection could have worsen dengue severity as well as vitamin D deficiency. In this case-control study, we compared (I) the vitamin D deficiency in dengue fever cases with or without H. pylori coinfection, and (II) negative dengue fever as a control with or without H. pylori coinfection. We have also assessed the correlation between vitamin D levels and its effect on warning signs of the dengue fever. Further, we have investigated whether coinfection with H. pylori has any effect on warning signs in the dengue fever patients and the vitamin D deficiency in all serotypes of the dengue virus infected patients. Methods: In this case control study the association of the vitamin D levels with age, gender and H. pylori coinfection in dengue fever hospitalized patients was assessed using chi-square and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Four hundred dengue fever patients with H. pylori coinfection were compared with 400 dengue negative controls with H. pylori coinfection. The mean age was 29.96 ± 10.5 and 29.88 ± 10.7 years among cases and controls, respectively. Most dengue fever patients with H. pylori coinfection were deficient in vitamin D compared with negative dengue controls with H. pylori coinfection. In multivariate logistic regression, the dengue cases with H. pylori coinfection were.056 times (95% CI: 0.024, 0.128, P = 0.000) more likely to have vitamin D "deficiency', while compared with the cases who did not have H. pylori coinfection. Conclusion: The present study proposes that vitamin D deficiency in dengue fever patients coinfected with H. pylori is much higher than the dengue fever negative controls coinfected with H. pylori. As hypothesized the DENV patient with H. pylori coinfection has vitamin D deficiency as well as increased dengue severity.

Efficacy of Oral Vitamin D3 Therapy in Patients Suffering from Diffuse Hair Loss (Telogen Effluvium).

The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of telogen effluvium (TE) and to evaluate the efficacy of vitamin D in the treatment of this problem in women belonging to various cities of south Punjab, Pakistan. In the present study, 40 adult women suffering from the problem of TE were included. Each woman was treated with oral vitamin D3 (200,000 IU) therapy fortnightly and a total of 6 doses were given to each patient. After 15 d of the last dose, the condition of patients was assessed clinically. The mean age of female patients was 32.2±1.5 y, 42.5% of the patients between 21-30 y of age were found to be more frequently affected with TE compared to 35% females of 31-40 y of age. Results showed significant improvement in hair growth in young (r=0.457 p<0.003) women and in those, which do not use sunscreen (r=-0.331 p<0.037) but commonly utilize milk or milk protein (r=-0.311 p<0.051). Vitamin D3 therapy resulted in the improvement of the condition in 82.5% (p<0.001) patients of TE. The use of oral vitamin D3 (200,000 IU, fortnightly) for 3 mo resulted in significant improvement in hair regrowth in the patient of TE. Results showed improvement in hair growth in young women those do not use sunscreen but commonly utilize milk or milk protein.