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Determination of the vitamin D level: unnecessary and cost-intensive

Due to insufficient sunlight, there is a widespread vitamin D deficiency in Switzerland. The Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs therefore recommends regular intake of vitamin D. According to the recommendations, it is not necessary to first determine the vitamin D level in the blood.

Nevertheless, the number of these laboratory tests has risen sharply in recent years. A study conducted on behalf of the Swiss Medical Board concludes that the majority of these tests are unnecessary and may represent a case of medical overuse. The study can be viewed at https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-020-05956-2.

The Centre for Health Services Research of the Helsana insurance companies came to similar conclusions in a recently published study: see PDF.

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