Prevalence and risk factors of vitamin D deficiency among men

Abstract EN

Background : Vitamin D is vital for human health but its deficiency is worldwide.

There is a gap in our knowledge about vitamin D status in Bahrain.

Objective : To identify vitamin D status and associated risk factors among men in Bahrain.

Design : A cross-sectional study.

Setting : Four public and four private maternity hospitals in Bahrain.

Method : The study was carried out in the second and third weeks of April 2012.

Three hundred sixty-four men (husbands of mothers who presented in labor) participated in the study.

A questionnaire was administered and vitamin D level was measured in the blood.

Bivariate and multiple linear regression analysis were used to evaluate differences between variables.

P-value < 0.05 was considered significant.

Result: The mean age ± SD was 34.40 ± 7.27 years.

Vitamin D mean level ± SD was 46.14 ± 12.80 nmol/L.

Vitamin D level was <50 nmol / L in 233 (64 %) men.

The following variables showed significant association with vitamin D deficiency: high income (P-value 0.020), smoking (P-value 0.021), lack of sun exposure (P-value 0.001) and high body mass index (P-value 0.022).

Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is common among men in Bahrain.

High income, lack of sun exposure and high BMI were significant and independent predictors of low vitamin D level.

There is a need for population-based study in a randomly selected sample which includes all age groups and both genders.