The Importance of Vitamin D Deficiency as a Potential Marker Among Chronic Hepatitis B Patients

Objectives: We aimed to identify the potential role of vitamin D-3 among patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Birjand, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 292 patients were selected with CHB and 304 healthy subjects as control groups in the outpatient clinic of the infectious diseases department between January 2018 and December 2019. We quantified the levels of total vitamin D-3 in serum samples of them. Logistic statistical analysis was applied at the significance level of 5%. Results: The mean age and serum vitamin D-3 level of the study and control groups were; 39.9 +/- 12.3 years, 43.0 +/- 9.3 years and 17.76 +/- 5.53 ng/mL, 22.07 +/- 2.41 ng/mL, respectively. So, a significant difference between means of vitamin D-3 serum in the two groups was observed (p>0.05). The prevalence of vitamin D-3 deficiency was higher among patients with hepatitis B virus (63.0%) than the healthy group (32.9%). Frequency distribution of serum vitamin D-3 levels showed a significant difference between the two groups (p=0.001). The risk of vitamin D-3 deficiency was significantly more than the healthy group (odds ratio: 3.17, p<0.001). Conclusions According to the results; a high risk of vitamin D-3 deficiency related to CHB was found in this city. Future studies are warranted to consider the impact of vitamin D supplementation in CHB.

Automated summary

The case-control study in Birjand revealed a higher prevalence of vitamin D-3 deficiency among patients with chronic hepatitis B compared to healthy individuals, with a significantly increased risk of deficiency. Further research is needed to investigate the impact of vitamin D supplementation on chronic hepatitis B.