Universal Journal of Public Health Vol. 12(3), pp. 594 - 599
DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2024.120316
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The Features of Vitamin D Deficiency in Jeddah City: A Cross-Sectional Study

Almonther Abdullah Hershan ^1,*, Moufag Mohammed Saeed Tayeb ^2
1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, College of Medicine, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Unhealthy lifestyles can lead to a deficiency in vitamin D, as it is found in few food sources. Objective: To investigate the characteristics of vitamin D deficiency in the people of Jeddah City, especially in relation to obesity. Methods: Vitamin D level was assessed for 141 visitors to university clinic in year 2023. Vitamin D level and body mass index (BMI) were assessed for each visitor. Immunoassay was used to measure vitamin D level. Females were 107, and males were 34. Vitamin D levels were divided into phases following clinical practice recommendations. Data were recorded in an Excel sheet and three tables were extracted. Results: Visitors aged between 20 and 50 years are the most interested to measure vitamin D as 70.4% of total number of cases are mostly between 40 and 50 years and 43 are visitors (30.6%), followed by young population between 20 and 30 years with 34 visitors (24.1%), and then 30s population with 22 visitors (15.7%). Females are the most frequent visitors as 105 (74.5%). Most of the cases are vitamin D-deficient with 122 patients (86.5%). Mild deficiency is the most common in 60 individuals (42.5%) followed by moderate deficiency with 57 patients (40.5%). Most of Jeddah population have high BMI with 59.6% of total cases. Most of the cases are overweight with 43 patients (30.5%) and class I obesity with 25 patients (17.7%). Conclusion: Most of Jeddah City citizens have minor vitamin D deficiency between 30 and 40 ng/mL, particularly middle-aged women. Highest interest to measure vitamin D is mainly the age between 20 and 50 years, mostly 40–50 years. Most of Jeddah residents are overweight or have first-degree obesity in their late 30s. The relationship between BMI and vitamin D level is inverse. These results are consistent with the Saudi findings, and obese Saudi females are considered as the highest risk for vitamin D deficiency. The most important clinical action which can give a huge positive effect is health education. To our knowledge, this is the first study which relates vitamin D deficiency with obesity in Jeddah city.

KEYWORDS
Vitamin D, Fat Soluble Vitamin, Body Mass Index, Jeddah, Saudi

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Almonther Abdullah Hershan , Moufag Mohammed Saeed Tayeb , "The Features of Vitamin D Deficiency in Jeddah City: A Cross-Sectional Study," Universal Journal of Public Health, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 594 - 599, 2024. DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2024.120316.

(b). APA Format:
Almonther Abdullah Hershan , Moufag Mohammed Saeed Tayeb (2024). The Features of Vitamin D Deficiency in Jeddah City: A Cross-Sectional Study. Universal Journal of Public Health, 12(3), 594 - 599. DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2024.120316.