Prevalence and Determinants of Vitamin D Deficiency in 1825 Cape Town Primary Schoolchildren: A Cross-Sectional Study
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2022-03-16
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Nutrients
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
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Vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D[25(OH)D] <50 nmol/L) is common among adults in Cape Town, South Africa, but studies investigating vitamin D status of children in this setting are lacking. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence and determinants of vitamin D deficiency in 1825 Cape Town schoolchildren aged 6–11 years. Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 7.6% (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 6.5% to 8.9%). Determinants of vitamin D deficiency included month of sampling (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] for July–September vs. January–March 10.69, 95% CI 5.02 to 22.77; aOR for October–December vs. January–March 6.73, 95% CI 2.82 to 16.08), older age (aOR 1.25 per increasing year, 95% CI: 1.01–1.53) and higher body mass index (BMI; aOR 1.24 per unit increase in BMI-for-age Z-score, 95% CI: 1.03–1.49). In a subset of 370 participants in whom parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations were measured; these were inversely related to serum 25(OH)D concentrations (<i>p</i> < 0.001). However, no association between participants with hyperparathyroidism (PTH >6.9 pmol/L) and vitamin D deficiency was seen (<i>p</i> = 0.42). In conclusion, we report that season is the major determinant of vitamin D status among Cape Town primary schoolchildren, with prevalence of vitamin D deficiency ranging from 1.4% in January–March to 22.8% in July–September.
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Middelkoop, K., Walker, N., Stewart, J., Delport, C., Jolliffe, David A., Nuttall, J., Coussens, Anna K. & Naude, Celeste E. et al. 2022. Prevalence and Determinants of Vitamin D Deficiency in 1825 Cape Town Primary Schoolchildren: A Cross-Sectional Study. Nutrients. 14(6) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36370