Survey on Knowledge and Attitudes on Vitamin D and Sunlight Exposure in an Urban Population in Vietnam
Abstract
Background. Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to be a risk factor for various chronic diseases and mortality. It is not clear why vitamin D deficiency affects a large proportion of individuals living in tropical Asian countries.
Objective. The present study sought to examine the knowledge, behavior and attitude of Vietnamese men and women toward vitamin D and sunlight exposure.
Methodology. The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey of a population in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Study participants were randomly drawn from the general community, supermarkets and hospital visitors. Each participant was given a questionnaire relating to knowledge on vitamin D and behavior toward sunlight exposure. The questionnaire was previously tested for reliability and accuracy in 20 participants.
Results. A total of 1,536 individuals aged 14 to 85 years participated in the study. Fifty three percent of participants did not like being exposed to sunlight. On the average, most reported approximately 14 hours per week under the sun. Majority (81%) reported that they had heard of vitamin D from newspapers (32%), friends (20%) or radio and television (13%). However, their knowledge about the source of vitamin D was inadequate: 37% thought that vitamin D comes from the sun, 28% from foodstuff and the sun, while 17% did not know the source of vitamin D. Analysis of the determinants of knowledge of vitamin D suggested that only educational level was a significant predictor of vitamin D knowledge.
Conclusion. A negative attitude toward sunlight exposure and inadequacy of knowledge on vitamin D could adversely affect bone and general health in the community. The data also provides a basis for developing public health strategies for the prevention of vitamin D deficiency in the Vietnamese population.
Downloads
References
Holick MF. Evolution and function of vitamin D. Recent Results Cancer Res 2003;164:3-28.
Pittas AG, Dawson-Hughes B, Li T et al. Vitamin D and calcium intake in relation to type 2 diabetes in women. Diabetes Care 2006;29(3):650-6.
Carbone LD, Rosenberg EW, Tolley EA et al. 25-hydroxyvitamin D, cholesterol, and ultraviolet irradiation. Metabolism 2008;57(6):741-8.
Holick MF. Calcium plus vitamin D and the risk of colorectal cancer. N Engl J Med 2006;354(21):2287-8.
Wang TJ, Pencina MJ, Booth SL et al. Vitamin D deficiency and risk of cardiovascular disease. Circulation 2008;117(4):503-11.
Wilkinson RJ, Lange C. Vitamin D and tuberculosis: New light on a potent biologic therapy? Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2009;179(9):740-2.
Amento EP. Vitamin D and the immune system. Steroids 1987;49(1-3):55-72.
Hayes CE, Nashold FE, Spach KM et al. The immunological functions of the vitamin D endocrine system. Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand) 2003;49(2):277-300.
Hayes J, Dave S, Rogers C et al. A national survey in England of the routine examination of the newborn baby. Midwifery 2003;19(4):277-84.
Lieberman D, Lieberman D, Friger MD. Seasonal variation in hospital admissions for community-acquired pneumonia: A 5-year study. J Infect 1999;39(2):134-40.
Shek LP, Lee BW. Epidemiology and seasonality of respiratory tract virus infections in the tropics. Paediatr Respir Rev 2003:4(2):105-11.
Thompson WW, Shay DK, Weintraub E et al. Influenza-associated hospitalizations in the United States. JAMA 2004;292(11):1333-40.
Autier P, Gandini S. Vitamin D supplementation and total mortality: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med 2007;167(16):1730-7.
Melamed ML, Michos ED, Post W et al. 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and the risk of mortality in the general population. Arch Intern Med 2008;168(15):1629-37.
Pilz S, Dobnig H, Tomaschitz A et al. Vitamin D and cancer mortality. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(1):359.
Pilz S, März W, Wellnitz B et al. Association of vitamin D deficiency with heart failure and sudden cardiac death in a large cross-sectional study of patients referred for coronary angiography. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2008;93(10):3927-35.
Holick MF. Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med 2007;357(3):266-81.
Ho-Pham LT, Nguyen ND, Lai TQ et al. Vitamin D status and parathyroid hormone in a urban population in Vietnam. Osteoporos Int 2011;22(1):241-8.
Ho Chi Minh City Facts and Figures. www.hochiminhcity.gov.vn. Accessed July 10, 2008.
Kung AW, Lee KK. Knowledge of vitamin D and perceptions and attitudes toward sunlight among Chinese middle-aged and elderly women: A population survey in Hong Kong. BMC Public Health 2006;6:226.
R Development Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. 2.7.0. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing, 2008. http://www.R-project.org.
Bouillon R, Norman AW, Lips P. Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med 2007;357(19):1980-1.
Lips P. Vitamin D physiology. Prog Biophys Mol Biol 2006;92(1):4-8.
Wat WZ, Leung JY, Tam S et al. Prevalence and impact of vitamin D insufficiency in southern Chinese adults. Ann Nutr Metab 2007;51(1):59-64.
Green TJ, Skeaff CM, Rockell JE et al. Vitamin D status and its association with parathyroid hormone concentrations in women of child-bearing age living in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. Eur J Clin Nutr 2008;62(3):373-8.
Hawkins RC. 25-OH vitamin D3 concentrations in Chinese, Malays, and Indians. Clin Chem 2009;55(9):1749-51.
Holick MF. The vitamin D epidemic and its health consequences. J Nutr 2005;135(11):2739S-48S.
Stechschulte SA, Kirsner RS, Federman DG. Vitamin D: Bone and beyond, rationale and recommendations for supplementation. Am J Med 2009;122(9):793-802.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. (full license at this link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode).
To obtain permission to translate/reproduce or download articles or use images FOR COMMERCIAL REUSE/BUSINESS PURPOSES from the Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies, kindly fill in the Permission Request for Use of Copyrighted Material and return as PDF file to jafes@asia.com or jafes.editor@gmail.com.
A written agreement shall be emailed to the requester should permission be granted.
