VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY IN WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE

Objective. To determine the level of hypovitaminosis D in adult healthy women attended in primary care and their associated factors. Design. Cross-sectional, descriptive study. Setting. A neighbourhood of Barcelona, Spain, with a socially deprived population with a high percentage of immigrants, and urban factors which meant that they lived with hardly any sunlight. Participants. Women between 15-50 years seen between February and March 2005. Measurements and results. Primary: residence time (years), skin phototype, sun exposure, vitamin D deficiency pain type, calcium, vitamin D consumed, and measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) or calcidiol and parathyroid hormone (PTH) if (25[OH]D) was < 10 ng/mL; 94 women were included. Mean age: 33 years (SD, 7.8); 62.8% immigrants (mean years of residence, 11.5). Mean (25[OH]D), 14.0 ng/mL (95% CI, 12.5-15.5). Skin phototype V-VI was associated with low levels of (25[OH]D) (P=.001). None of the women stated that they consumed the recommended amount of vitamin D and only 46% the recommended amount of calcium. Sun exposure of > 4 hours/week: 37%. Sixteen percent had musculo-skeletal pain. No relationship was found between vitamin D levels and immigration. All the women had (25[OH]D) levels of < 40 mg/mL, 47.9% had insufficient (25[OH]D), 10-20 ng/mL, and 37.2% were deficient: <= 10 mg/mL. PTH was within the normal range. Conclusions. All the women had low levels of vitamin D, more than a third of these, deficient. No relationship with immigration was found. A relationship was established between skin phototype V-VI and (25[OH]D) deficiency. None of the cases consumed the recommended amounts of vitamin D.