Geomapping Vitamin D Status in a Large City and Surrounding Population—Exploring the Impact of Location and Demographics
Nutrients 2020, 12(9), 2663; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12092663
by Helena Scully 1,*OrcID,Eamon Laird 2OrcID,Martin Healy 3,James Bernard Walsh 1,Vivion Crowley 3 and Kevin McCarroll 1
1 Mercer’s Institute for Research on Ageing, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
2 School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
3 Department of Biochemistry, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
Snipped from Conclusions
“…those living in poorer socioeconomic areas were more likely to be deficient,...”
Study did not appear to mention it, but lower socioeconomic areas typically have
- More dark-skinned immigrants
- More smokers
- More air pollution
- People who eat less (high-priced) fish
- Low-cost farmed fish have far less Vitamin D
- People less likely to afford a sunny vacation in the winter
- An area which discourages walks (poor safety, lack of parks, etc)
Each of which is associated with low vitamin D
Deficiency of Vitamin D category starts with the following
- Overview Deficiency of vitamin D
- Many reasons why vitamin D deficiency has become epidemic
- 23 of the 40 reasons are recent
- Many doctors continue to believe 2,000 IU of vitamin D is max (Hungary in this case)– Dec 2021
- 73 percent of US infants still do not even get 400 IU of Vitamin D - June 2020
- Vitamin D levels are dropping rapidly – what you need to do
- 4 Reasons why Vitamin D levels are crashing
- Update Reasons for Low Vitamin D and what to do with a concise table
- Air Pollution reduces Vitamin D production - many studies
- Vitamin D levels in 56 countries (many have less than 20 ng) – 2021
- Trends in vitamin D status around the world – Nov 2021
- Vitamin deficiency in US military – Vitamin D is the most prevalent and is growing rapidly – June 2021
- Smoking reduces vitamin D - many studies 77 studies as of Feb 2024
- Low Vitamin D is worse for your health than smoking
- Many categories of people are at High Risk of low vitamin D -
67 studies - 26 health factors increase the risk of COVID-19 – all are proxies for low vitamin D
- Diseases arising from depletion are cured by repletion - Hippocrates 400 BC
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Vitamin D status was assessed in a large urban area to compare differences in deficiency and to geomap the results. In total, 36,466 participants from 28 geographical areas were identified in this cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of general practitioner (GP)-requested 25(OH)D tests at St James’s Hospital, Dublin between 2014 and 2018. The population were community-dwelling adults, median age 50.7 (18–109 years) with 15% of participants deficient (<30 nmol/L), rising to 23% in the winter. Deficiency was greatest in younger (18–39 years) and oldest (80+ years) adults, and in males versus females (18% vs. 11%, p < 0.001). Season was the biggest predictor of deficiency (OR 4.44, winter versus summer, p < 0.001), followed by location (west Dublin OR 2.17, north Dublin 1.54, south Dublin 1.42 versus rest of Ireland, p < 0.001) where several urban areas with an increased prevalence of deficiency were identified. There was no improvement in 25(OH)D over the 5-year period despite increased levels of testing. One in four adults were vitamin D deficient in the winter, with significant variations across locations and demographics. Overall this study identifies key groups at risk of 25(OH)D deficiency and insufficiency, thus providing important public health information for the targeting of interventions to optimise 25(OH)D. Mandatory fortification may be necessary to address this widespread inadequacy.
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