THE ABCS OF VITAMIN D TESTING

Course overview

Information on the association of low vitamin D levels and adverse health outcomes has grown exponentially in the past year. Vitamin D deficiency is implicated in bone disease, autoimmunity, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Learn about the sources of vitamin D and the causes of what has been termed an "epidemic" of vitamin D deficiency with specific information from published studies. Understand the limits of current laboratory testing. The medical community is challenged by the lack of traceability between methods used to measure vitamin D. Traceability facilitates the pooling and comparison of data from various studies to facilitate medical research and define best practice guidelines. Traceability also allows the use of evidence-based medicine to define best practice guidelines and transferrable clinical decision thresholds. Upon completion of this activity, you will be able to: -Describe the causes and epidemiology of vitamin D deficiency. -Discuss the clinical pathology associated with vitamin D deficiency in the areas of bone health, autoimmunity, cancer, and heart disease. -Apply knowledge gained about the lack of traceability of vitamin D between methods in selecting the best method(s) for measuring vitamin D. -Apply knowledge gained to select the best method(s) for measuring vitamin D.