The Delineation of Vitamin D Deficiency among Iranian Students: an Attempt to Establish its Potential Association with Obesity

摘要

Vitamin D def iciency is a worldwide public health problemand is recognized as a pandemic in the recent years. Thiscross-sectional studywasconducted onatotal sampleof 354students to determine the prevalence of ‘Vitamin D’def iciency and its relationship with obesity among Iranianstudents. Data was collected using the measurement ofcirculating form of 25-hydroxy Vitamin D [25(OH) D] andBody Mass Index (BMI) which were further analyzed usingdescriptive and analytical statistics via the SPSS18 software.No signif icant relationship between the circulating level ofvitamin D and BMI was evidenced. Only 15% of femalestudents who had a Vitamin D def iciency, were overweightand obese, but the same frame 28.9% of the male students.Further, the prevalence of Vitamin D def iciency wassignif icantly higher in the male students rather thanfemales. Conclusively, the prevention, diagnosis, andtreatment of Vitamin D def iciency must be important inthis age group. Since no statistically signif icant relationshipwas found between Vitamin D def iciency and obesity,further studies are suggested to investigate this association,especially inobesepeople.