High vitamin D deficiency rate in metabolic inpatients: is bariatric surgery planning found guilty?

Background: High rates of vitamin D insufficiency are usually found in obese patients, even before any malabsorptive bariatric surgery. It is not clear whether they lack vitamin D because of different food intake, different solar exposure, or different storage pathways or bioavailability in adipose tissue. To better understand vitamin D deficiency, we studied different categories of inpatients.

Vitamin D deficiency before bariatric surgery: should supplement intake be routinely prescribed?

Background: Before bariatric surgery, we demonstrate a 96% rate of vitamin D deficiency in morbidly obese French patients: should supplement intake be routinely prescribed? We conducted a prospective observational study to demonstrate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in morbidly obese patients awaiting bariatric surgery.

Methods: Clinical and biological data were collected on 50 successive patients.

Results: Data showed vitamin D deficiency in 96% (25-OH vitamin D = 31 ± 13 nmol/l), with a cut-point of 50 nmol/l.