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The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya
Background Vitamin D (VD) is the sunshine vitamin. Its deficiency is widely spread worldwide and is implicated in various health problems that have serious financial, mental, and physical health burdens. In Libya, it also has a high incidence as many studies have been conducted on this issue, but th...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Cureus
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9583046/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36285107 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.29832 |
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author | Alalem, Annour M Younis, MYG Hawda, Salima M Zakoko, Ahmed M Mohamed, Negia A Alqathafy, Khalid G Elmansouri, Mohammed O |
author_facet | Alalem, Annour M Younis, MYG Hawda, Salima M Zakoko, Ahmed M Mohamed, Negia A Alqathafy, Khalid G Elmansouri, Mohammed O |
author_sort | Alalem, Annour M |
collection | PubMed |
description | Background Vitamin D (VD) is the sunshine vitamin. Its deficiency is widely spread worldwide and is implicated in various health problems that have serious financial, mental, and physical health burdens. In Libya, it also has a high incidence as many studies have been conducted on this issue, but the exact situation of VD deficiency in the southern region of Libya remains unclear. Aim The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency of VD deficiency and calcium status among females of reproductive age in Wadi Etba (located in the southern region of Libya). Material and methods This study included 622 females aged 20-40 years attending the Rural Hospital and Private Clinics in Wadi Etba for various health issues during the last five years. The study population was further subdivided into two age groups; 20-30 years and 31-40 years. VD and calcium were measured to determine the VD status among the study population. Results In general, 489 females had sub-optimal VD (<30 ng/mL), representing 78.6% of the total subjects. Normal VD levels were represented only by 133 subjects (21.4%). VD deficiency was represented by 354 subjects (57%) of the total subjects. A total of 232 (37%) subjects were VD-deficient females (18.3 ± 5.5 ng/ml), 122 subjects (20%) were considered poor (severe deficient, VD <10 ng/ml) represented with a mean serum VD of 8.2 ± 0.6. Furthermore, deficiency cases dominated the older age group. Regarding calcium (Ca(+2)) levels, 31% had lower than the normal range, 68% had normal range, and only 1% showed high Ca(+2 )levels. On the other hand, there was no correlation between serum levels of VD and Ca(+2 )levels. Conclusion VD deficiency has become a widespread condition in the southern region of Libya. Therefore, we recommended making lifestyle changes, including extending the exposure time to the sunlight radiation, fortifying foods and drinks with VD, and taking supplementary doses of VD to reduce the high incidence of VD deficiency. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9583046 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Cureus |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-95830462022-10-24 The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya Alalem, Annour M Younis, MYG Hawda, Salima M Zakoko, Ahmed M Mohamed, Negia A Alqathafy, Khalid G Elmansouri, Mohammed O Cureus Other Background Vitamin D (VD) is the sunshine vitamin. Its deficiency is widely spread worldwide and is implicated in various health problems that have serious financial, mental, and physical health burdens. In Libya, it also has a high incidence as many studies have been conducted on this issue, but the exact situation of VD deficiency in the southern region of Libya remains unclear. Aim The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency of VD deficiency and calcium status among females of reproductive age in Wadi Etba (located in the southern region of Libya). Material and methods This study included 622 females aged 20-40 years attending the Rural Hospital and Private Clinics in Wadi Etba for various health issues during the last five years. The study population was further subdivided into two age groups; 20-30 years and 31-40 years. VD and calcium were measured to determine the VD status among the study population. Results In general, 489 females had sub-optimal VD (<30 ng/mL), representing 78.6% of the total subjects. Normal VD levels were represented only by 133 subjects (21.4%). VD deficiency was represented by 354 subjects (57%) of the total subjects. A total of 232 (37%) subjects were VD-deficient females (18.3 ± 5.5 ng/ml), 122 subjects (20%) were considered poor (severe deficient, VD <10 ng/ml) represented with a mean serum VD of 8.2 ± 0.6. Furthermore, deficiency cases dominated the older age group. Regarding calcium (Ca(+2)) levels, 31% had lower than the normal range, 68% had normal range, and only 1% showed high Ca(+2 )levels. On the other hand, there was no correlation between serum levels of VD and Ca(+2 )levels. Conclusion VD deficiency has become a widespread condition in the southern region of Libya. Therefore, we recommended making lifestyle changes, including extending the exposure time to the sunlight radiation, fortifying foods and drinks with VD, and taking supplementary doses of VD to reduce the high incidence of VD deficiency. Cureus 2022-10-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9583046/ /pubmed/36285107 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.29832 Text en Copyright © 2022, Alalem et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Other Alalem, Annour M Younis, MYG Hawda, Salima M Zakoko, Ahmed M Mohamed, Negia A Alqathafy, Khalid G Elmansouri, Mohammed O The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya |
title | The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya |
title_full | The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya |
title_fullStr | The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya |
title_full_unstemmed | The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya |
title_short | The Frequency of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiencies Among Women of Reproductive Age in Wadi Etba, Southern Region of Libya |
title_sort | frequency of vitamin d and calcium deficiencies among women of reproductive age in wadi etba, southern region of libya |
topic | Other |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9583046/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36285107 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.29832 |
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