Vitamin A, C, D, E and B12 Levels in Leprosy: A Case Control Study

Vitamins are essential part of nutrition and there are many reports indicating that vitamins influence the etio-pathogenesis of leprosy. The deficiency of vitamins in leprosy patients can also be because of leprosy or associated nutritional factors. In this study we aimed at assessing blood vitamin levels in recently diagnosed leprosy patients in comparison to control subjects. This was a case control study. In this study consecutive 60 newly-diagnosed patients of leprosy were included. We also included age and sex matched 28 control subjects. All patients were categorized according to the Ridley Jopling classification of leprosy along-with World Health Organization classification. Vitamins A, C, D, E and B12 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The levels of vitamin A, E, C, D and B12 all were significantly lower in leprosy cases as compared to healthy controls (P<0.05). The paucibacillary cases had significantly higher levels of all the vitamins (P<0.05). In conclusion, serum vitamin A, E, C, D and B12 levels in leprosy patients were found to be lower than healthy controls. These findings indicate the need of more in depth studies in statistically significant number of different types of leprosy cases from different geographical areas.