Vitamin D Status in South Korean Population: Seven-year Trend from the KNHANES

Overview

Journal Medicine (Baltimore)

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2018 Jun 29

PMID 29952942

Citations 62

Authors

Ju-Hyun Park

In Young Hong

Jae Woo Chung

Han Seok Choi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency has become one of the most prevalent health problems in modern society. However, there has been no study that has reported the trend of vitamin D status in Asia. We performed an observational study to investigate the trend of vitamin D status in South Korea based on a representative national database acquired from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) conducted from 2008 to 2014. A total of 39,759 patients were included in the final analyses. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25 (OH)D) levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. The overall mean serum level of 25 (OH)D was 45.7 nmol/L in males and 40.9 nmol/L in females in KNHANES 2008 to 2014. There was a significant trend toward lower serum 25 (OH)D levels from 2008 to 2014 in males by -1.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] -1.5 to -0.9) nmol/L per year and in female by -0.7 (95% CI -0.9 to -0.4) nmol/L per year. The overall mean serum level of 25 (OH)D in 2008 was 53.0 nmol/L in males and 45.7 nmol/L in females. It decreased to 43.2 nmol/L in males and 39.2 nmol/L in females in 2014. Vitamin D deficiency, defined as the serum 25 (OH)D level of <50 nmol/L, was found in 65.7% of males and 76.7% of females in overall population. A significant increasing trend of vitamin D deficiency was also observed. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in 2008 was 51.8% in males and 68.2% in females, but rose to 75.2% and 82.5%, respectively, in 2014. The present study demonstrated that vitamin D status in South Koreans is still deteriorating. More extensive and proactive measures are needed to improve vitamin D status in South Korea.

Citing Articles

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