الفهرس 
Vitamin D FunctionsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 149 |  |  |
| | | from | 149 | | |
Abstract
Conclusion and Recommendation
In conclusion, our study revealed a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Saudi children in general and particularly among those who suffered from ALRTI. Low concentrations of vitamin D in the patients were associated with increased length of hospital stay. Although no statistically significant differences in serum levels of vitamin D were observed between apparently healthy children and those admitted due to ALRTI, our findings provided insights into the potential application of vitamin D as a booster to reduce the risk of complications in patients with infection.
More studies are required to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the Saudi population, with an emphasis on differences among age groups [particularly children] and clinical features. Although KSA is a sunny country during all seasons of the year, vitamin D deficiency is still a major health problem for various populations. Consequently, we recommend that vitamin D should be an essential part of the human diet or should be provided as a supplement.
Although the number of known genotypes variants is great, linking the common gene polymorphism to diseases represents a remarkable opportunity to investigate the etiology, inter-individual differences in treatment response and outcomes of specific situations. Although active research in this field has been started only recently, some of them already demonstrated impressive achievements. At the same time the reliability of results reported by many groups remain questionable mostly due to insufficient statistical power of the studies and often random choice of polymorphisms. It is evident that large studies based upon combined analysis of groups of genes within relevant regulatory and metabolic pathways have a much higher potential value in terms of unravelling prognostically important individual polymorphism profiles.
In the present analysis, variation at VDR gene polymorphism was measured solely on the basis of PCR-RFLP which could be considered as a useful tool in population genetic studies in understanding population variations. As there are large differences in allele frequency and distribution of genotypes of VDR SNP i.e. either TaqI and ApaI which measured in this study, or FokI or Bsm which were not), it would be quite helpful to find out any linkage disequilibrium in individuals from other ethnic groups. The variation in our Saudi population from the rest of the world population signifies the impact of ethnicity. Thus this kind of study may form the basis for future establishment of epidemiological and clinical databases. In the long run, these studies may help in determining disease susceptibility and suggest more appropriate clinical management.