High Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in Women Presenting to Rheumatology Clinic in North of Iran: An Inverse Relation with Age
J Women's Health Care 2: 123. doi:10.4172/2167-0420.1000123 Volume 2 • Issue 2 • 1000123
Behzad Heidari1'2 heidaribeh at yahoo.com Parnaz Heidari3 and Karim Hajian Tilaki4
1Department of Medicine, Rouhani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran 2Musculoskeletal Research Center, Babol University of Medical Center, babol, Iran 3Tehran Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran "Department of Social Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
Received April 04, 2013; Accepted May 27, 2013; Published May 29, 2013
Background: Vitamin D deficiency is linked to bone mass attainment during adolescence period and to the development or progression of several rheumatic diseases that commonly appears in young females. There is a gap in the existing literature pertaining to vitamin D levels across the life-stages. This study was designed to investigate the status of serum vitamin D according to age in women presnting to rheumatology clinic in north of Iran.
Methods: A total of 843 women were consecutively entered to study. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) was measured by ELISA method and concentratins <20 ng/ml was considered as deficiency. Mean 25-OHD and proportions of 25-OHD deficiency was compared according to decades of age and between premenopausal (<50) and postmenpausal (> 50 years) women using Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests. Spearman's test was used for correlation.
Results: The median age was 50 (range 15-91) years. Overall 52.8% had 25-OHD deficiency and 24.6% had 25-OHD<10 ng/ml. Mean 25-OHD and proportion of deficiency diferred significantly across various decades of age (P=0.0001 for both).Mean 25-OHD positively correlated to age (r=0.300 P=0.0001) and proportion of 25-OHD deficiency inversely correlated with age (P=0.0001). Mean 25-OHD was lower and proportion of 25-OHD deficiency was higher in premenopausal versus postmenopausal women (P=0.001 for both).
Conclusion: These findings indicate an inversly age- related high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency particularly in premenopausal women presenting to rheumatology clinic. Regarding a link between vitamin D deficiency and development of several rheumatic diseases as well as bone mass impairment these findings suggest early recognition of vitamin D deficiency in young women.
PDF is attached at the bottom of this page
Interesting graph of vitamin D levels
While the paper does not admit to it, it appears that some older women in Iran are not so heavily clothed/protected from the sun.
That seems to be the only way to explain such high levels of vitamin D
It could not have been from food.