Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and factors associated with vitamin D deficiency among 13-17 years old adolescents in Coimbatore

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is a global health problem that is highly prevalent in many regions of the world including India. Vitamin D deficiency may lead to several diseases, including nutritional rickets, osteomalacia, skeletal deformities, increased risk of hip fractures, and increased risk of preeclampsia among pregnant women. The factors associated with Vitamin D deficiency include lack of sun exposure, inadequate diet, low level of physical activity, second hand smoke exposure, soft drink consumption, older age, female gender and lower socio-economic status. Few studies have been conducted to explore the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the factors associated with the deficiency among adolescents in India. As adolescence is accompanied by the rapid growth of bones and sexual development, vitamin D is particularly important in this age group. The proposed study will explore the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the associated factors among the adolescents aged 13 to 17 years in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. A cross-sectional survey will include blood sample collection in order to assess the 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels in blood (outcome) and the administration of a self-administered questionnaire that will measure sun exposure, vitamin D in diet, age, exposure to second hand smoke and soft drink consumption. The height and weight of the participants will be also measured in the survey. The data on the intake of supplements and socio economic status of adolescents will be obtained from their parents. The data will be collected from 864 students across 10 schools in Coimbatore city. The multi-stage cluster sampling will be used to sample the participants. Logistic regression will be done for analysis. Simple and multiple regression models will be used. The approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the American University of Armenia. The proposed budget for the study is 17,760 USD. The proposed study duration is five months.