Professional Statements and Societal Positions Guidelines
Endocrine Society (2011, updated in 2024)
The Endocrine Society published its guideline "Vitamin D for the Prevention of Disease," in 2024. This guideline recommends universal vitamin D supplementation rather than universal or targeted screening.
The Endocrine Society published clinical practice guidelines on the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency. The following recommendations were made regarding testing vitamin D levels:
- 25-hydroxy vitamin D serum level testing is recommended: "to evaluate vitamin D status only in individuals who are at risk of deficiency." The guideline did not recommend screening of individuals not at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
- 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D testing was not recommended to evaluate vitamin D status. However, the guideline did recommend monitoring calcitriol levels under certain conditions.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations 2021
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force published an updated recommendation, and associated evidence report and systematic review in 2021, on vitamin D screening. The Task Force concluded that the current evidence was insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for vitamin D deficiency in asymptomatic individuals (grade I [insufficient evidence]).
The American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP, 2020)
The ASCP (2020) recommended the following for Choosing Wisely(R):
"Vitamin D deficiency is common in many populations, particularly in individuals at higher latitudes, during winter months and in those with limited sun exposure. Over the counter Vitamin D supplements and increased summer sun exposure are sufficient for most otherwise healthy individuals. Laboratory testing is appropriate in higher risk individuals when results will be used to institute more aggressive therapy (e.g., osteoporosis, chronic kidney disease, malabsorption, some infections, obese individuals)."
