Status of Vitamin D, Calcium and Parathyroid Hormone Levels & Hepatorenal Function in Untreated Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Matched Case-Control Study

Background & Objective: Tuberculosis (TB) remains an ongoing major public health problem in the world. In recent years, experimental evidenc suggests a link between TB and Vitamin (Vit) D. This study was conducted to determine serum Vit D, calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and parathormone (PTH) levels in untreated pulmonary TB (PTB) patients. Materials & Methods: In this case control study, 50 outdoor PTB patients were selected with 50 gender- matched controls from April 2019 to March 2020. Controls were drawn randomly from general population. Body mass index (BMI), serum Vit D, PTH, Ca, P, Albumin (Alb), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and direct bilirubin, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Cr) levels were measured in the two study groups. The results were analyzed on SPSS version 25. Results: Median [IQR] Vit D levels were 17.4 [14.0- 24.0] ng/ml in cases,and 23.0 [18.0- 27.0] ng/ml in controls (p=0.002). Median [IQR] serum corrected Ca value for the TB patients (8.91 [8.60- 9.15] mg/dL) was significantly lower than that of the healthy controls (9.60 [9.15- 9.89] mg/dL, P< 0.001). Median [IQR] PTH was 48 in TB patients [45- 52 pg/ml] and 38 in controls [28- 42 pg/ml] (p<0.0001). Conclusion: BMI and uncorrected and corrected serum Ca, P, Vit D, Alb, and both two aminotransferases levels were significantly lower and serum PTH was significantly higher in patients with TB as compared to controls.