Association between vitamin D levels and frailty scales in diabetic patients

Backgrounds: Geriatric population is increasing with progress in medical technology. The frailty that a part of aging is also increasing. Frailty is an important public health problem that needs to be detected and treated early due to the morbidity, hospitalization, increase in health costs and mortality it may cause. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between vitamin D level and frailty in diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: We enrolled to our study geriatric Type 2 DM patients who applied to Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University Medical Faculty Hospital Internal Medicine outpatient clinic between September and December 2021. Sociodemographic characteristics, laboratory parameters and anthropometric measurements of the patients were recorded. Frailities of patients were determined using the Tilburg frailty scale. Study parameters were compared between frail and non-frail goups. Results: A total of 68 patients, 28 female and 40 male, were enrolled to our study. While 36 (52.9%) of the patients were frail and 32 (47.1%) were not frail according to Tilburg Frailty Scale. Frailty increased significantly with the age (p= 0.001). Vitamin D levels were founded significantly lower in the frail group (p=0.05). There was no significant difference between frail and non-frail patients in other sociodemographic, anthropometric and laboratory measurements according to Tilburg Frailty Scale (p>0.05 for all). Conclusion: The level of frailty increases markedly with age. Low vitamin D level is a risk factor for frailty. Intermittent monitoring and treatment of vitamin D levels in elderly diabetic patients may reduce frailty. Key words: Frailty, Vitamin D, Diabetes Mellitus, Tilburg Frailty Scale