Prevalence and predictors of vitamin D deficiency in Lebanon: 2016-2022, before and during the COVID-19 outbreak
Endocrine. 2023 Aug 19. doi: 10.1007/s12020-023-03483-8
Diala Harkous 1, Nada Ghorayeb 1, Marie-Hélène Gannagé-Yared 2
Background: Vitamin D deficiency is very common worldwide, particularly in Middle-Eastern countries. Recent Lebanese studies demonstrated an improvement in vitamin D status over time. However, the comparison between the years before and during the COVID-19 outbreak has never been analyzed in the Middle-East area. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and the predictors of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels during the last 7 years.
Methods: Serum 25(OH)D levels from a large laboratory database were retrospectively collected from Hôtel-Dieu de France Hospital between January 2016 and June 2022 (N = 66,127). Data related to age, gender, season and year of sampling were also retrieved.
Results: Mean age of the population was 50.6 ± 19 years, 62.7% were women, 5.3% were children and adolescents, 67.6% adults and 27% elderly. Mean serum 25(OH)D level was 25.7 ± 11.9 ng/mL. The overall population with vitamin D sufficiency (>30 ng/mL) was 31.9%. The increase in mean serum 25(OH)D observed between 2016 and 2022 was 6.36 ng/mL (p < 0.0001). The prevalence of 25(OH)D deficiency (<30 ng/mL) decreased from 76.2% in 2016 to 56.5% in 2022 (p < 0.0001) with a significant difference between the period before and during the COVID-19 outbreak (72.3% vs.42.5%, p < 0.0001). In a multivariate logistic regression, older age, female sex, summer season, years of the COVID-19 outbreak and outpatient samples were protective factors against the risk of hypovitaminosis D (p < 0.0001 for all variables).
Conclusion: Our study showed a continuous positive change in vitamin D status time, most notably after the COVID-19 outbreak. Further studies are needed to assess the clinical impact of the pandemic on vitamin D status in our population.
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Several studies also found that Vitamin D levels increased during COVID
- Vitamin D was the most popular supplement during the COVID Pandemic – July 2023
- Seniors raised Vitamin D levels, more COVID survivors, less CKD (Slovakia) – Feb 2023
- Vitamin D levels INCREASED in Korea during lockdown (supplementation) – Nov 2022
VitaminDWiki – COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D - studies, reports, videos
As of March 31, 2024, the VitaminDWiki COVID page had: trial results, meta-analyses and reviews, Mortality studies see related: Governments, HealthProblems, Hospitals, Dark Skins, All 26 COVID risk factors are associated with low Vit D, Fight COVID-19 with 50K Vit D weekly Vaccines Take lots of Vitamin D at first signs of COVID 166 COVID Clinical Trials using Vitamin D (Aug 2023) Prevent a COVID death: 9 dollars of Vitamin D or 900,000 dollars of vaccine - Aug 2023
5 most-recently changed Virus entries
- The above image is automatically updated