Vitamin D status of tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus in different economic areas and associated factors in China.

BACKGROUND:Vitamin D could be a mediator in the association between tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM). A large scale multi-center study confirmed that TB patients with DM had significantly lower serum vitamin D level compared with those without DM and reported that DM was a strong independent risk factor for vitamin D deficiency. OBJECTIVES:This study was undertaken to determine amongst patients with both TB and DM living in different economically defined areas in China: i) their baseline characteristics, ii) their vitamin D status and iii) whether certain baseline characteristics were associated with vitamin D deficiency. METHODS:In DM-TB patients consecutively attending seven clinics or hospitals, we measured 25 hydroxycholecalciferol at the time of registration using electrochemiluminescence in a COBASE 601 Roche analyser by chemiluminescence immunoassay. Data analysis was performed using chi square test and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS:There were 178 DM-TB patients that included 50 from economically well-developed areas, 103 from better-off areas and 25 from a poverty area. Median vitamin D levels in well-developed, better-off and poverty areas were 11.5ng/ml, 12.2ng/ml and 11.5ng/ml respectively. Amongst all patients, 149 (84%) had vitamin D deficiency-91 (51%) with vitamin D deficiency (10-19.9 ng/ml) and 58 (33%) with severe deficiency (< 10 ng/ml). There was a significantly higher proportion with vitamin D deficiency in the poverty area. The adjusted odds of vitamin D deficiency (25-(OH)D3