Vitamin D injection helped migrants a bit, but some had poor or even negative responses

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and intramuscular vitamin D3 supplementation among Eritrean migrants recently arrived in Switzerland

Swiss Med Wkly. 2017;147:w14568 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2017.14568

Afona Chernet, Nicole-Probst Hensch, Kerstin Kling, Véronique Sydow, Christosph Hatz, Daniel H Paris, Katharina Rentsch, Beatrice Nickel, Andreas Neumayr, Niklaus D Labhardt

    Blue highlight = negative response     Pink highlight = poor response

Note: 2nd measurement was at 12 weeks, Average BMI = 20 (not obese)

* Reasons for low response to vitamin D * Examples for migrants getting injections include: low Magnesium, Smoking, Cola drinks, Genes, poor health, liver problems * Response to a large dose of vitamin D (80,000 IU) typically varied by 2 X – June 2016 * * Note: some had poor responses, but none had negative responses * 78 percent of pregnant immigrants in Sweden had less than 10 ng low vitamin D – Nov 2013 * Immigrants and refugees had lower vitamin D levels – Jan 2013 * Immigrant vitamin D deficiency in Europe – May 2011 * Overview Vitamin D Dose-Response includes many graphs, such as the following * * Note that virtually all had a good response fo a large dose * Vitamin D injection lasts longer and has bigger response than weekly oral – Jan 2017 * * Injection category listing has items along with related searches** * Vitamin D injection of 600,000 IU (response by 10 individuals)– Sept 2017(has the following chart _

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In a cross-sectional screening programme, we assessed serum vitamin D levels in adult Eritrean refugees recently arrived in Switzerland. Median vitamin D level among 107 participants (95 males and 12 females) was 27 nmol/l (interquartile range 23–42 nmol/l), 86% had insufficient vitamin D levels (≤50 nmol/l) and 36% severe deficiency (<25 nmol/l). In 29 participants who received single-dose intramuscular vitamin D substitution (300 000 IU), median vitamin D levels increased from 25 to 35 nmol/l after 3 months (p = 0.005); only 11 (38%) reached sufficient vitamin D levels.

Eritrean migrants should be routinely screened for vitamin D deficiency. Single-dose intramuscular supplementation appeared to be insufficient to achieve optimal levels in the majority of participants.