%0 Journal Article %A Siam, A. R. %A Hammoudeh, M. %A Khanjer, I. %A Bener, A. %A Sarakbi, H. %A Mehdi, S. %T Vitamin D Defficiency in Rheumatology Clinic Practice in Qatar %D 2006 %J Qatar Medical Journal, %V 2006 %N 1 %@ 2227-0426 %C 17 %R https://doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2006.1.17 %I Hamad bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press), %X In order to assess the prevalence ofvitamin-D deficiency in patients attending the rheumatology outpatient clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar; 360 consecutive pa-tients (97% female) were tested for fasting levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, parathyroid hormone, calciumphos-phorus, albumin and alkaline phosphatase. Two hundred and three patients (56%) showed vitamin D levels below 20 ng/ml. From the results obtained it is concluded that lev-els of serum calcium, phosphorus, and alkaline phos-phatase are of limited value in predicting vitamin-D sta-tus. The difficulty of skin synthesis in heavily-robed women is discussed and it is concluded that hypovitaminosis D is frequent in such women and that routine assays of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone and vitamin D supplementa-tion would be beneficial. %U https://www.qscience.com/content/journals/10.5339/qmj.2006.1.17