High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in urban health checkup population.
Clin Nutr. 2015 Jun 6. pii: S0261-5614(15)00151-X. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2015.05.019. [Epub ahead of print]
Ning Z1, Song S2, Miao L3, Zhang P3, Wang X4, Liu J3, Hu Y3, Xu Y3, Zhao T5, Liang Y5, Wang Q5, Liu L6, Zhang J7, Hu L7, Huo M8, Zhou Q8.
1Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China. Electronic address: ningzhiwei at hotmail.com.
2Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China.
3Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China.
4ACURE Biotechnology, Inc. 8780 Manahan Dr. Ellicott City, MD 21043, USA.
5Department of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China.
6Department of Pharmacy, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China.
7Basic Medical School, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China.
8Affiliate Hospital of Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei Province 67000 China.
BACKGROUND:
Vitamin D deficiency is documented as a common health problem in the world.
Limited data has been found on the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Beijing area.
AIM:
To investigate the prevalence s of vitamin D deficiency in urban Beijing residents and the seasonal and monthly serum 25(OH)D variation in this population.
METHODS:
This is an urban hospital based cross-sectional study lasting whole 2 years. 5531 (5-101 years old) urban Beijing residents for health checkup are recruited from December 9th, 2011 to December 8th, 2013. Each subject completed a questionnaire designed to quantify intake of vitamin D through food, vitamin D supplements, hours of sun exposure, sunscreen use over the past month. Serum 25(OH)D is statistically analyzed in accordance with gender, age, and time-lines.
RESULTS:
Vitamin D deficiency (Serum 25(OH)D level ≤20 ng/mL) and sever deficiency (Serum 25(OH)D level ≤ 10 ng/mL) are highly prevalent in this population. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is 87.1% and higher prevalence is found in female (89.0%) than male (84.9% P < 0.001).
Severe vitamin D deficiency is also higher in female than male (59.3% and 42.7%, respectively, P < 0.001).
Female under 20 and over 80 have lower 25(OH)D levels compared to 40-60 years old female (both P < 0.05).
Severe vitamin D deficiency are also highly prevalence in this two group (60.9% and 54.1%) compared with 40-60 years old females (43.1%, both P < 0.05). Seasonal variation are also found in this population (P < 0.01). Autumn and summer have the higher 25(OH)D level than winter and spring in both genders (P < 0.001). Winter and spring have higher vitamin D deficiency and Severe deficiency than the other two seasons (P < 0.05). Serum 25(OH)D level peaks in October and troughed in April in both female and male. Lower serum 25(OH)D level are found in April than February (P < 0.05) in both gender.
CONCLUSIONS:
This is the first time to examine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among urban Beijing residents spanning the age spectrum. And Vitamin D deficiency and severe deficiency is found highly prevalent in this population, especially among females under 20 and older than 80 and in winter and spring seasons. Targeted prevention on vitamin D deficiency is urgent for this population.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.
PMID: 26093537
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Reasons for low vitamin D include
- Stay indoors due to air pollution
- Stay away from the sun so as to not have darker skins
See also VitaminDWiki
- Most Chinese have less than 20 ng level of Vitamin D - meta-analysis Aug 2021
- Avoiding the sun (and vitamin D) – most Chinese medical students do not want darker skins – Feb 2015
- Vitamin D deficiency in China – only 1 in 18 have even 30 ng, fewer if young or female – Feb 2015
- 2000 IU vitamin D not enough to get most Chinese to 20 ng level – RCT Feb 2015
- Hypothesis – China air conditioning disease is the result of less vitamin D – March 2011
- Overview Suntan, melanoma and vitamin D has a picture of a Chinese woman at the beach
- Beijing extremely vitamin D deficient even in the fall: 10 ng – April 2013