A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among adolescent girls in selected Indian states

Background: Vitamin D deficiency among adolescents is an emerging public health priority as adolescence marks a period of rapid growth and the onset of the reproductive phase. However, lack of national prevalence data and intervention strategies is of public health concern. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the pooled prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among adolescent girls in selected Indian states. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using three different search engines. The searches yielded nine eligible articles. Study quality was assessed for 10 different criteria. Meta-analysis was performed to estimate pooled prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among adolescent girls and to assess the heterogeneity among selected studies. Results: A sample of n=1352 was used to study prevalence among adolescent girls. The random effects combined estimate for overall prevalence was 25.70% (95% CI 3.89–2137.9). High heterogeneity (tau2=1.71, I2=100%) was observed and seven out of nine studies showed low to moderate risk and two showed high risk of bias. The test for overall effect was observed to be Z=0.77 (p=0.44). Conclusions: High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among adolescent girls identifies the need to introduce screening of adolescents and introduce proven public-health interventions such as fortification of foods to address deficiency.