Afrozul Haq¹*, Jitka Sirohi², Mohammad Imran³ and William B Grant⁴

¹Department of Food Technology, School of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University), New Delhi, India and Gulf Diagnostic Hospital Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE
²Department of Statistics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
³Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India
⁴Director, Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center, San Francisco, CA USA

*Corresponding Author: Afrozul Haq, Professor of Food Technology and Former Dean, School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Technology, Department of Food Technology, School of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University), New Delhi, India.

Received: August 17, 2021; Published: February 28, 2022

Abstract

Background and Aims: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency—having serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations less than 75 nmol/L (30 ng/mL)—is a common phenomenon worldwide. Regardless of age, vitamin D deficiency is a serious health problem, especially in women and children. Despite plentiful of sunshine, D-deficiency is particularly a major health problem for residents of the Middle Eastern countries. The data presented in this paper are specifically of the juvenile population living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—that is, residents younger than 18 years from various countries.

Methods: Vitamin D estimation was done by chemiluminescence immunoassay, a quantitative immunoassay method used to determine total 25(OH)D in serum on a fully automated analyzer. Currently, the ideal methods for measuring 25(OH)D₃ are based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection. This method simultaneously measures 25(OH)D₂ and 25(OH)D₃. HPLC and mass spectrometry can differentiate between those two forms, yielding distinct results for each fraction.

Results: Vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent among children aged 13-18 years living in the United Arab Emirates. Female sex and ethnicity were the variables most commonly associated with vitamin D deficiency. An inverse relationship exists between the level of 25(OH)D and age of juveniles. Among the study groups, UAE nationals have the lowest level of 25(OH)D. The severe deficiency (<25 nmol/L) was most prevalent in UAE national teenage girls aged 13-18 years (51.0%).

Conclusion: Among the age, sex, and nationality variables, age was the most important factor associated with serum 25(OH)D levels. Levels of serum 25(OH)D were inversely correlated with age in children. Severe vitamin D deficiency [25(OH)D < 25 nmol/L] was present in 9.5% of patients aged 1-3 years, 56.4% aged 7-9 years, and 79.9% aged 13-15 years. Therefore, vitamin D deficiency increased with age.

Keywords: Vitamin D Deficiency; Children; 25(OH)D; 1,25(OH)₂D; Age and Sex; UAE

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Citation

Citation: Afrozul Haq., et al. “A Retrospective Study of 25(OH)D Levels in Children of Different Age, Sex, and Nationality". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 6.3 (2022): 115-124.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Afrozul Haq., et al. 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.