VITAMIN D DEFICIENCIES
A PILOT STUDY IN OVERWEIGHT AND OBESE CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Keywords:
VITAMIN D, OVERWEIGHT, OBESEAbstract
INTRODUCTION
In the post COVID era, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents is increasing, leading to multiple obesity-related comorbidities. Despite Malaysia being a tropical country, the occurrence of vitamin D deficiency has been increasing. This study aimed to determine the incidence of vitamin D deficiencies in normal and obese/overweight groups.
METHODOLOGY
A total of 43 participants aged 7 to 17 years old were recruited from the Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah, UiTM. During the hospital visit, anthropometric measurements and a questionnaire on dietary intake, sunlight exposure and average family income were collected. Total serum vitamin D levels were taken and analysed using the electrochemiluminescence assay.
RESULT
The mean age of the participants was 9.30 ± 1.89 years old. A total of 48.8% were overweight or obese. The overweight/ obese group had a significantly higher body mass index (BMI) (29.01 ± 11.23 kg/m2 vs 14.95 ± 1.77 kg/m2 , p <0.01), weight (54.73 ± 22.7 kg vs 24.23 ± 7.24 kg, p <0.01) and waist circumference (82.65 ± 23.27 cm vs 55.66 ± 5.10 cm, p <0.01) compared to the normal group. Male participants had significantly higher BMI (23.8 ± 8.27 kg/m2 vs 19.92 ± 12.31 kg/m2 , p <0.05) and weight (47.14 ± 25.71 kg vs 31.47 ± 16.23 kg, p <0.05 compared to female. A total of 60.5% of the participants had serum 25 (OH) D levels ≤50 nmol/L. There were no significant differences in 25 (OH) D levels between both groups. Additionally, daily exposure to sunlight for more than 2 hours was associated with higher serum vitamin D levels among children and adolescents (p <0.05). Furthermore, a high household income was associated with a high risk of weight gain (p <0.01) and waist circumference (p <0.01) among children and adolescents.
CONCLUSION
There was a high incidence of vitamin D deficiencies in children and adolescents with no association between BMI and serum 25 (OH) D levels.
Downloads
References
*
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Nur Faten Hafizah Rosli, Noor Shafina Mohd Nor, Rose Adzrianee Adnan, Siti Hamimah Sheikh Abdul Kadir
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International 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.