ArticleBMJ open2025
Serum vitamin D and calcium levels among tuberculosis patients in Southern Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo compare serum vitamin D and calcium levels between tuberculosis (TB) patients and age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls, and to evaluate their relationship with disease severity.
designComparative cross-sectional study.
settingDilla University Teaching Hospital (DUTH), Southern Ethiopia.
participants100 adult TB patients and 100 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls aged 18 years or over. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and calcium levels.
resultsMean serum vitamin D was markedly lower in TB patients than in controls (21.4±7.3 ng/mL vs 32.0±6.6 ng/mL; p<0.001), with 45% of TB patients classified as deficient. Similarly, serum calcium levels were decreased among TB patients (9.09±0.43 mg/dL vs 9.31±0.61 mg/dL; p=0.006), with 35% exhibiting hypocalcaemia. Both vitamin D and calcium concentrations were inversely correlated with sputum bacillary load (r = -0.36 and -0.35, respectively; p=0.001 and 0.002).
conclusionsLow vitamin D and calcium levels were observed among TB patients in Southern Ethiopia. These findings emphasise the need for routine micronutrient screening and considering supplementation in TB care. Further research is needed to clarify the clinical significance of these micronutrient levels in TB management.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.