Prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its associated risk factors among pregnant women in selected clinics in Misurata, Libya

الملخص EN

This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of Vitamin D insufficiency and its associated risk factors among pregnant women in selected clinics in Misurata, Libya for the month of March 2018.

A total of 90 pregnant women were included in this study.

a self-made questionnaire was designed to gather data.

The data gathered were classified, tabulated and analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Fifty five percent of the respondents had insufficient vitamin D (serum concentration 25 (OH) D level < 30 ng/ml ), Most of the respondents are aged 15 -25 years old and are in college level, with fair skin and sometimes exposed to sunlight in the mid-day with less than one hour, sometimes use of sunscreen cream.

In terms of dietary information, most of the respondents had regular intake of milk, omega 3 fish oil, Vitamin D and calcium supplements.

Despite the increasing awareness of the importance of vitamin D in the recent period, and although pregnant women in Misurata hospitals are generally subjected to a course of supplements, but suboptimal levels of vitamin D is still common.