Vitamin D deficiency in healthy people and its relationship with gender and age

Introduction: Vitamin D is a fat-soluble steroid prohormone. Vitamin D is an important regulator of calcium absorption and bone growth. Objectives: There is considerable controversy and conflicting studies on relationship between serum vitamin D in healthy individuals and ageing. The aim of this study is to test the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin vitamin D with age groups and gender in a group of Iranian healthy individuals. Patients and Methods: In this current cross-sectional study, 102 healthy individuals were selected. Serum vitamin D levels were measured using ELISA kit. According to the history and laboratory tests, patients with the history of diabetes, any active or chronic infections, liver disease, diabetes or malignancy were excluded from the study. Any history of administration of vitamin D was also an exclusion criterion. All participants had normal renal function detected by normal serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). To determine the relationship between gender (two categories) and age group (three categories) with vitamin D levels, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used respectively. Results: The average age of the participants was 42.97±15.54 years. The mean vitamin D level was 17.32±12.16 ng/mL. In this study, 73% of individuals had vitamin D deficiency, 18 % had marginal deficiency and 9% had a normal vitamin D levels. This study showed a significant relationship between vitamin D and age of subjects(r=0.23, P=0.02). Conclusion: High percentage of vitamin D deficiency in the participants of our study requires more attention to this public health entity. A direct relationship between serum vitamin D level and the age of healthy individuals requires further investigation.