Abstract

Background: Vitamin D has an essential role in enhancing the immune system to fight and destroy bacteria. People with vitamin D deficiency are highly liable to develop active pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.

Objective: To evaluate the serum level of vitamin D among patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.

Patients and Methods: A case-control prospective study was conducted among patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis and asymptomatic persons (controls). The study included 80 participants, 50 were TB patients, while 30 were controls. Vitamin D {1, 25(OH)} assay was done for all.

Results: Vitamin D assay of the included subjects revealed that 52 patients were vitamin D deficient, 7 patients had insufficient vitamin D and 21 had normal serum levels. Of the extrapulmonary TB patients, 35 (100%) had vitamin D deficiency, in pulmonary TB patients, 15 (100%) were vitamin D deficient. While 2 study subjects (6.7%) in the control group were deficient of vitamin D, 7 (23.3%) had insufficient vitamin D and 21cases had normal vitamin D levels. There was a statistically significant relationship between pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB cases and vitamin D deficiency (P< 0.001).

Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency was found among pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis patients especially among female patients and patients in rural residence. The current study needs additional work to evaluate the value of adding vitamin D to the TB treatment regimen.

Keywords: Calcitriol, extrapulmonary tuberculosis, human monocytes, immunological tolerance, pulmonary tuberculosis, vitamin D deficiency.

Graphical Abstract