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Intel Lab Diagnostics Dubai
Single Biomarker

Vitamin D, 25 Hydroxy (25-OH), Total

25-Hydroxyvitamin D

This is the best test for measuring vitamin D status. Vitamin D is essential for bone health, immune function, and mood. Deficiency is extremely common, especially in regions with limited sun exposure.

BLOOD24 HOURSNO FASTING
AEDAED219
  • Free home collection
  • Physician-reviewed report

24 Hours

Turnaround

Blood

Sample

About This Test

What the Vitamin D, 25 Hydroxy (25-OH), Total test tells you

Vitamin D behaves less like a vitamin and more like a hormone. Skin makes it when ultraviolet light reaches it, and a smaller amount comes from oily fish, egg yolk and fortified foods. Whatever the source, the liver converts it into 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the form that circulates in meaningful quantities and lasts long enough to be measured reliably. This is what the test reports. The kidneys later activate a small portion on demand, but that active form is so tightly regulated and so short-lived that it says little about how much vitamin D a person actually has.

The best-understood role of vitamin D is in calcium handling. It helps the gut absorb calcium and phosphate and, working with parathyroid hormone, keeps bone mineralisation on track. A prolonged shortfall softens bone, causing rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, and contributes to bone loss, muscle weakness and falls later in life. Receptors for the active form also sit in immune and muscle tissue, which is why low levels have been linked with a wider set of symptoms, although the strength of those links varies a great deal from one association to the next.

Deficiency is common in the UAE despite the climate, because sunlight only helps when it actually lands on skin. Indoor working hours, air-conditioned routines, clothing that covers the body, consistent sunscreen use and deeper skin pigmentation all reduce how much the skin makes. Doctors order the test for bone or muscle pain, unexplained tiredness, an unexpected calcium or alkaline phosphatase result, before and during treatment for thinning bones, and for people with malabsorption, obesity, kidney or liver disease, or medicines that speed up vitamin D breakdown. Because the level moves slowly, repeat testing is usually spaced out rather than frequent.

Sample type
Blood
Measured in
ng/mL
Turnaround
24 Hours
Fasting
Not required
Best for
All ages
Why Get Tested?

Recommended for general health screening, bone pain, muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, frequent infections, and for individuals with limited sun exposure.

  • Bone and muscle symptoms

    Aching bones, weakness in the thighs and shoulders, and difficulty rising from a chair are among the most recognisable reasons to measure vitamin D.

  • Little sunlight on skin

    Indoor routines, covering clothing, consistent sunscreen use and deeper pigmentation all reduce how much vitamin D the skin can produce.

  • Bone strength and fractures

    Vitamin D is assessed before and during treatment for thinning bones, and after a fracture that seems out of proportion to the injury that caused it.

  • Absorption problems

    Coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease and weight-loss surgery all limit uptake of this fat-soluble vitamin, so status is checked periodically.

When This Test Is Ordered

Reasons your doctor may request the Vitamin D, 25 Hydroxy (25-OH), Total test

Your doctor may order this test for any of the reasons below. Some are routine checks, others follow specific symptoms or an earlier result.

  • Bone pain & muscle weakness

    • Persistent bone pain, muscle aching or weakness, particularly around the hips and shoulders.

  • Bone thinning & abnormal bone chemistry

    • An unexpected calcium, phosphate or alkaline phosphatase result that needs explaining.
    • Thinning bones on a scan, or a fracture that happened with very little force.

  • Sun exposure, absorption & medication

    • Very limited sun exposure through indoor routines, covering clothing or consistent sunscreen use.
    • Malabsorption from coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease or weight-loss surgery.
    • Long-term use of medicines that accelerate vitamin D breakdown, such as some anti-epileptic drugs and steroids.
Preparation
The short version
No prep needed.
  • Blood
  • Free home collection
  • No fasting
  • Results in 24 Hours
  1. 1
    Book any time

    No fasting window: pick any slot that suits you, online or on WhatsApp.

  2. 2
    We come to you

    A DHA-licensed nurse collects your sample at home or in the office: free home collection.

  3. 3
    Results in 24 Hours

    A physician-reviewed, easy-to-read report lands securely by WhatsApp and email.

Prep note
Physician reviewed

Fasting is not required for vitamin D, so eat and drink normally unless the test is booked alongside a lipid profile or a glucose test that does need fasting.

If you take a vitamin D supplement, it helps to have the sample drawn before the day's dose, and to tell your doctor the strength, how often you take it, and whether you have recently had an injection or a single large oral dose, since these raise the measurement for a while. High-dose biotin supplements can interfere with this class of assay, so ask whether to pause them for a few days beforehand.

Stay normally hydrated. If you are tracking your level over time, use the same laboratory each time and try to keep the season and your sun exposure habits in mind, as both influence the result.

Understanding Your Results

A result in the Sufficient band, 30 to 100 ng/mL, means your supply is where it needs to be for calcium absorption and bone. Insufficient, 20 to 29 ng/mL, may benefit from supplementation. A result in the Deficient band, 0 to 19 ng/mL, is common in the UAE despite the climate, because sunlight only helps when it lands on skin: indoor routines, covering clothing, sunscreen and deeper pigmentation all reduce what the skin makes. Obesity, malabsorption, some anti-epileptic drugs, long-term steroids and advanced kidney or liver disease lower it too. The level moves slowly, so one measurement describes the preceding months rather than that day, and repeat testing is spaced out. Methods differ between laboratories, so follow the trend in one. Low vitamin D is common and does not by itself explain tiredness, so your doctor reads it with your calcium, your symptoms and your history.

SmartReport
2030
Healthy zone65ng/mLSufficient
Reference ranges · ng/mL
Deficient
Deficient: supplementation is often recommended.
0–19
Insufficient
Insufficient: may benefit from supplementation.
20–29
Sufficient
Sufficient vitamin D level.
30–100

Ranges are a guide: your physician interprets your result alongside your symptoms and history.

Reading a High or Low Result

  • What a higher result can point to

    • Taking high-potency vitamin D supplements for longer than intended, or continuing a loading course past the point it should have stopped.
    • Combining several products at once, such as a multivitamin, a separate vitamin D capsule, cod liver oil and fortified foods.
    • Mistakes in strength or dosing frequency, which are the usual cause of genuinely excessive levels.
    • An injection or a single large oral dose given shortly before the sample was collected.

  • What a lower result can point to

    • Little skin exposure to sunlight, whether from indoor routines, covering clothing or regular sunscreen use.
    • Deeper skin pigmentation, which slows production for the same amount of sunlight.
    • Obesity, where vitamin D is taken up and held in fat tissue rather than circulating.
    • Malabsorption from coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatic insufficiency or weight-loss surgery.
    • Medicines that speed up its breakdown in the liver, including several anti-epileptic drugs and long-term steroids.
    • Advanced kidney or liver disease, which disturbs the steps that convert and retain it.

These are possibilities, not diagnoses. A single value outside the reference range is interpreted alongside your symptoms, history and other tests: your doctor decides what it means for you.

Limitations & Safety

What this test cannot tell you

  • The test reflects overall vitamin D supply, not how well the active hormone is working; in liver disease, pregnancy or low protein states the carrier protein shifts and the total can mislead.
  • Laboratory methods do not always agree exactly with one another, so it is better to follow the trend at a single laboratory than to compare results from different providers.
  • The level changes slowly with sun exposure and season, so one measurement describes the preceding months rather than that day.
  • Low vitamin D is common, and finding it does not by itself explain symptoms such as fatigue; other causes still deserve consideration.

Risks of the blood draw

  • Mild bruising or brief soreness where the needle went in.
  • Occasional lightheadedness, which settles after a few minutes of rest.
  • Bleeding or infection at the site, which is rare with sterile single-use equipment.
Key Points
  • 125-hydroxyvitamin D is the storage form and the most reliable indicator of vitamin D status.
  • 2Skin production needs sunlight to actually reach skin, so a sunny climate is no guarantee of sufficiency.
  • 3Vitamin D governs calcium and phosphate absorption and is central to bone strength and muscle function.
  • 4The active form is not used for status testing because the body regulates it too tightly and it clears too fast.
  • 5Levels move slowly, so your doctor will usually leave a gap of several months before rechecking.
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Sunlight only helps when ultraviolet light reaches bare skin. Indoor working hours, air-conditioned routines, clothing that covers the body, consistent sunscreen use and deeper pigmentation all reduce production, and in a very hot climate people spend less time outdoors, not more. Low vitamin D is common in the UAE for exactly these reasons.