Why Vitamin D Continues to Be the World’s Fastest-Growing Clinical Laboratory Test
February 24 Audio Conference will cover the A-to-Z of Vitamin 25(OH) D Testing
Clinical laboratory testing for Vitamin 25(OH) D continues to the fastest-growing test on the medical laboratory menu, in the United States and other developed nations around the globe. Over the past four years, the steady increase in physician and patient demand for Vitamin D tests has kept most pathology laboratories scrambling to maintain turnaround times and quality.
To help laboratories understand and respond to this unprecedented demand for a simple laboratory test, national Vitamin D expert Bruce Hollis, Ph.D., Director of Pediatric Nutritional Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina will conduct a special audio conference on February 24 at 1:00 P.M. EST. Pathologists and laboratory professionals will find Dr. Hollis’ session to be an essential and comprehensive explanation of why Vitamin D has become a high profile subject in medicine and how they should position their clinical laboratories to best serve the demand for Vitamin D knowledge and testing.
Dr. Bruce Hollis speaking at Executive War College 2009
What fuels sustained demand for Vitamin 25(OH) D testing are two powerful trends. First is press coverage of the fact that a significant number of individuals have insufficient levels of Vitamin D. With surprising regularity, major newspapers and news outlets in the United States publish stories featuring interviews with physicians and health experts who tell the American public that a very high number in people have deficient levels of Vitamin D and that this situation can contribute to poorer health outcomes.
One example of such a story was published in the New York Times just days ago, on February 2, 2010. It carried the headline: “Vitamin D, Miracle Drug: Is It Science, or Just Talk?” The story provided plenty of details about why interest in Vitamin D testing continues to skyrocket. Reporter Tara Parker Pope wrote: “…despite the health potential of vitamin D, as many as half of all adults and children are said to have less than optimum levels and as many as 10 percent of children are highly deficient, according to a 2008 report in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.”
There is no denying that the spectacular increase in the volume of Vitamin D testing has been a revenue bonanza for the nation’s biggest clinical laboratories. New York Times reporter Pope noted that: “According to the lab company Quest Diagnostics, orders for vitamin D tests surged more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, up from the same quarter a year earlier.” A similar rate of increase has been acknowledged by large medical laboratories such as Laboratory Corporation of America, ARUP Laboratories, and Mayo Medical Laboratories, to name a few.
The second powerful trend that propels demand for Vitamin D testing is the steady cascade of published clinical studies that connect Vitamin 25(OH) D with a growing number of disease and health conditions. Any pathologist or lab manager can do a Google search and readily view multiple, recently-published studies involving Vitamin D.
Two examples make this point. Last month, the January 23, 2010, issue of the British Medical Journal carried the results of a case control study that found people in the top fifth of Vitamin D levels had a 40% lower risk for colorectal cancer than those in the bottom fifth. The study was conducted by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) .
Just this month, a study published in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism determined that elderly men with Vitamin 25(OH) D levels “between 15.1 and 30 ng/ml had twice the likelihood of radiographic hip osteoarthritis (i.e., observed on x-ray) than those with normal levels.”
These two examples are just the latest in a steady stream published studies that find a connection between deficient levels of Vitamin 25(OH) D and higher risk for a growing number of diseases and chronic health conditions. Dr. Hollis will cover the most credible of these clinical studies during the February 24 audio conference call, titled “The A-to-Z of Vitamin D: Why It’s Today’s Hottest Lab Test!”
Best of all, Dr. Hollis is a captivating speaker, with tight documentation to back up his explanation of why the medical establishment is making such rapid progress in understanding the role that Vitamin 25(OH) D plays in optimum health. When he spoke to 500 lab leaders and pathologists last April at the Executive War College in New Orleans, the depth and breadth of his insights about Vitamin D and its essential role in optimum health motivated a number of experienced pathologists and laboratory scientists to walk across the street from the conference venue to purchase Vitamin D supplements for their personal use!
Your laboratory team needs to understand the full picture about Vitamin D, and this exceptional audio conference is designed to deliver all the information and insights you can use to stay ahead of your client physicians and patients on the topic of Vitamin D testing.
Best of all, the special interactive question-and-answer sessions during the audio conference give you a front row seat to ask your important questions and get personalized answers to your lab’s unique needs and interests. Reserve your participation in this highly valuable audio conference by registering today!
THE DARK REPORT AUDIO CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE
DATE: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
TIME: 1 p.m. EDT; 12 p.m. CDT; 11 a.m. MDT; 10 a.m. PDT
PLACE: Your telephone or speakerphone
COST: $245 per dial-in site (unlimited attendance per site)
TO REGISTER: Click here or call 1-800-560-6363 toll-free
Related Information:
Vitamin D tests soar as deficiency, diseases linked
Vitamin D, Miracle Drug: Is It Science, or Just Talk?
This was a terrific article. I would like more like to be broadcast.