Research Article
Ali F Al-Assadi, Dhamia S A
Abstract
Objective: The objective is to assess Serum Vitamin D level among infertile women in comparison to fertile women and study the possible factors that could lead to its depletion in spite of abundant sunlight in Basra city. Methods: This is a prospective case control study was conducted at Basra infertility center and outpatient Department at Basra Maternity hospital during the period from (15th September, 2017 to 5th March, 2018). Group I include 106 infertile women and group II 104 fertile women. In both groups women were randomly selected and were consented to participate in the study. In both groups women were assessed by specific questionnaire and Serum Vitamin D level was measured by ELISA test. In this research, the normal level for Vitamin D was considered to be greater than or equal to 20 ng/mL and serum level lower than 20 ng/mL was considered to be the deficit level. Results: Among the 106 studied women, 81 (76.4%) of them had Vitamin D deficiency and 25 (23.6%) of them had normal level of vitamin D. The lowest level of vitamin D in studied women was 0.3 ng/mL and the highest level of that was 62 ng/mL with p-value 0.000. Many factors have statistically significant effect on serum level of Vitamin D like socio-economic status with p-value=0.000, dietary habit with p-value=0.003, occupation with p-value=0.019, exposure to sun light with p-value=0.002, while other factors have no statistically significant effect like age of infertile women with p-value=0.05, BMI with p-value=0.101, race with p-value=0.5, level of education 0.243, type of clothes with p-value=0.11, color of clothes with p-value=0.1. Conclusion: In spite of abundant sun in our locality (Basra city) where this study was conducted, serum vitamin D levels were lower among infertile women compare to the fertile women. According to the conclusion of many researches worldwide about the association of vitamin D deficiency and infertility, Vitamin D deficiency should be kept in mind in the management of infertile women at our city. Among the etiological factors (socio-economic status, occupation and exposure to sun light, dietary habit) were found to be significant.