Persistence Of Vitamin D Deficiency In Asians And Duodenal Switch Patients After Bariatric Surgery Despite Supplements A Goralczyk1, T D L Williams2, E Redshaw2, S Agrawal3, K Mannur3, Y Koak3 Senior Clinical Fellow1, FY2, Consultant Surgeon3 Department of Bariatric Surgery, Homerton University Hospital London UK Introduction Many obese patients have Vitamin D deficiency1. Morbidly obese patients can develop Vitamin D deficiency after Bariatric surgery2. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased incidence of heart disease ,GI tract cancers or development of osteoporosis. This study was performed to evaluate which patients are at particular risk of persistent Vitamin D deficiency despite adequate postoperative supplements. Effect of postoperative supplements after bariatric surgery was evaluated by assessment of blood Vitamin D & Ca levels in different ethnic groups and types of surgery. Method Vitamin D & Ca levels by ethnicity Retrospective study of Bariatric surgery patients operated between 01.01.2010 and 31.12.2010. All patients were prescribed Vitamin D and Calcium in form of Adcal D3 1500mg /400IU BD. Data collected preoperatively and postoperatively in 3, 6,12 months intervals: age, ethnicity, type of surgery, serum Vitamin D & Ca levels. There were significant differences in the serum Vitamin D level before the operation between Caucasian and African/Afro-Caribbean (all p<0.05) Postoperatively Asians continued to have significantly low levels of serum vitamin D (p<0.05) despite supplements There was no statistical change noted in serum calcium levels in different ethnic groups Results 348 patients Age 45.7 ± 10.28 years (mean ± SD) Male 75 Female 273 BMI (kg/m2) 54.3 ± 13 Ethnic groups Vitamin D levels by operation There was a significant improvement in vitamin D levels 1-year after LRYGB (p<0.05) but not after LDS (p>0.05). There was also improvement in other surgical patients in serum Vitamin D levels but this did not achieve significance. There was no statistical change noted in serum calcium levels. Types of Bariatric surgery Conclusion In our series 1-year after bariatric surgery serum level of Vitamin D was better in Caucasian & Black patients than Asian and duodenal switch patients. Asians and duodenal switch patients were more prone to vitamin D deficiency before and after Bariatric surgery, despite supplements. References 1. Carlin AM et al. Prevalence of vitamin D depletion among morbidly obese patients…Surg Obes Relat Dis 2006;2:98-103 2. Johnson JM et al. The long-term effects of gastric bypass on vitamin D metabolism. Ann Surg 2006;243:701-704.