Lower Levels of Vitamin D Among Bangladeshi Immigrants with Diabetes in Greece Compared to Indigenous Greek Patients with Diabetes.
AIM
Vitamin D deficiency is thought to impair insulin action and glucose metabolism; however, previous studies have not examined ethnic differences. We investigated a cohort of predominantly white Greek Caucasian and Bangladeshi immigrant patients with diabetes mellitus in order assess the association between diabetes mellitus and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)VitD].


MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 165 patients from Bangladesh and 118 patients from Greece with diabetes were assessed for diabetes and 25(OH)VitD status.


RESULTS
The 25(OH)VitD levels of Bangladeshi patients were significantly lower compared to Greek patients (12.42±5.86 ng/ml vs. 23.06±12.36 ng/ml, p<0.001). Only 1.2% of Bangladeshi patients vs. 24.57% of Greek patients had sufficient levels of 25(OH)VitD (≥30 ng/ml)


CONCLUSION
The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is very high amongst patients with diabetes but immigrants are at greater risk. Vitamin D supplementation could be valuable in the prevention or treatment of diabetes.
['Papadakis|Georgios|G|', 'Zambelis|Thomas|T|', 'Villiotou|Vassiliki|V|', 'Dogkas|Nikolaos|N|', 'Pappas|Anastasios|A|', 'Keramidas|Ioannis|I|', 'Kakava|Kassiani|K|', 'Michalopoulou|Maria|M|', 'Rosenberg|Theofilos|T|', 'Konstantopoulos|Kostas|K|', 'Chatzipanagiotou|Stylianos|S|']
D000328:Adult D017668:Age of Onset D003920:Diabetes Mellitus D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants D005260:Female D006115:Greece D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D015995:Prevalence D014807:Vitamin D D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D Bangladeshi diabetes Greek ethnic minority