An Overview on Vitamin D Deficiency Diagnosis and Management in Primary Health Care Settings: Simple Literature Review

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Background: Vitamin D is an important, fat-soluble, vitamin that is integral in the calcium metabolism as a whole and integral in the overall bone metabolism. Deficiency in this vitamin may lead to clinical diseases mainly osteoporosis, osteomalacia and rickets. Major concerns of this condition has grown higher and higher in the medical field, and locally, in the Middle East and North Africa; up to 81% of people, from various age groups, have this deficiency. Moreover, internationally, it is estimated that up to 1 billion people have clinical and subclinical deficiency. Objectives: WThe purpose of this study is to review the literature regarding the physiology of vitamin D and its deficiency consequences, risk factors, clinical features, diagnosis, and management. Methodology: PubMed database was used for articles selection, from where the papers were obtained and reviewed. Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency has been established as a cause behind many diseases and been associated with many other issues. Raising the public awareness about this disease and the possible symptoms can be a huge factor to prevent complications. Treating this deficiency is possible by means of supplements and the clinician shall encourage people for adopting new lifestyles. Follow-ups by the family physicians are important because doses may change dependent on each case. New large- scale studies concerning the full scope of the effects of this disease, recommended dosage, and diagnosing values, are being done to fully understand this prevalent condition.