Prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency among community dwelling elderly in Dakahlia as a representative of rural areas in Egypt

Abstract

There was a low prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in an elderly rural population and a higher prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency among males than females.

Vitamin D deficiency among healthy Egyptian females

“…The recently published study also indicated a higher prevalence of insufficiency in males than in females. 11 Most of the studies conducted in Egypt concerning vitamin D status recruited subjects suffering of chronic illnesses like SLE, fibromyalgia, and HCV infection. 16 Also these studies included both males and females, while only five studies were conducted on healthy females.…”

The Prevalence of Micronutrient Deficiencies and Inadequacies in the Middle East and Approaches to Interventions

“…Available data reported the lowest deficiency among Saudi children (14.2%) [11] and elderly males in Egypt (19.3%) [12], whereas the highest deficiency was reported among Saudi adolescents and women of childbearing age (50%) [11]. …”

“…Most studies on vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency among the elderly in the Middle East have been conducted on women [26,45,46,47,48], a few have included both genders [11,15,49,50], and only one has been conducted solely on men [12]. Low prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has been reported among the elderly in Egypt at 19.3% [12] and KSA at 23.1% [23]; however, insufficiency levels were found to be higher, reaching 41% among the elderly in Lebanon [15] and 77.2% among those in Egypt [26].…”

“…Low prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has been reported among the elderly in Egypt at 19.3% [12] and KSA at 23.1% [23]; however, insufficiency levels were found to be higher, reaching 41% among the elderly in Lebanon [15] and 77.2% among those in Egypt [26]. Vitamin D insufficiency among older adults in the region has been attributed to increasing age, low vitamin D intake, female gender, low exposure to sunlight, and veiling (although the results on veiling are mixed) [45].…”

“…Similarly, a study by El Araby et al of 88 randomly selected hospitalized elderly men (≥60 years of age) found that 19.3% and 79.5% of patients were vitamin D deficient (serum 25(OH)D < 25 nmol/L) and insufficient/inadequate (serum 25(OH)D 25–72.5 nmol/L), respectively [50]. By contrast, in a study of 178 community dwelling older adults ≥60 years, representative of the rural areas in Egypt, Aly et al found no cases of vitamin D insufficiency, although the prevalence of inadequacy (serum 25(OH)D 50–72.5 nmol/L) was observed in 26% of those studied, with higher rates recorded in men (37.9%) than in women (15.3%) [12]. …”