Vitamin status of patients with certain chronic non-communicable diseases

Abstract

Background. Inadequate supply with vitamins is a risk factor for the development of many nutritionally-related diseases and their progression. Data on the actual vitamin status of patients are necessary to develop measures for its improvement. Aim. To characterize the supply of persons with non-communicable diseases with vitamins A, E, C, B2 and -carotene by determining their level in the blood of patients. Material and methods. The blood serum level of vitamins C, A, E, B2 and -carotene in 138 patients (41 men and 97 women) 2280 years old with cardiovascular diseases, obesity, gastrointestinal diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), osteoarthrosis has been determined. Results. Vitamin C concentration corresponded to adequate status in approximately 2/3 of the examined patients; among patients with T2DM, such sufficiency occurred 1.61.9 fold less often than in other groups. The frequency of reduced levels of vitamins C, A and E was statistically significantly more frequent in patients with gastrointestinal diseases. The -/-tocopherol ratio in the serum of patients in all groups was close to 1:50, while in patients with gastrointestinal diseases reached 1:60.7. The proportion of patients sufficiently supplied with all studied vitamins ranged from 15.8 to 70.0%. Patients with osteoarthrosis were best of all provided with all vitamins: multiple (3 or more vitamins) vitamin deficiency was not found. In other groups of patients, multiple vitamin deficiency occurred in 5.327.6% of the examined (an average of 16.4%). Among patients with gastrointestinal diseases there was not a single person sufficiently provided with all the studied vitamins. Multiple vitamin deficiency in patients with gastrointestinal diseases was detected more often (p 0.01) compared with patients with T2DM and osteoarthrosis. Given the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, it is possible to extrapolate that a significant proportion of patients with a combined deficiency of 2 vitamins (6.931.6% in the samples examined) will move into the category of persons with a simultaneous deficiency of 3 vitamins. Conclusion. The purposeful development of supplements containing effective doses of vitamins for various nosologies is necessary.