Vitamin D level in a sample of Egyptian Females in Child Bearing Period Attending a Family Medicine Center

Abstract

Nutritional status is an indication of the overall well being of a population. Women in child-bearing age are at one of the most nutritionally-vulnerable stages of their life cycle. The current body of evidence shows that many women do not get enough micronutrients in their diets during their reproductive age as well as during pregnancy. Vitamin D, a prohormone synthesized in the skin mainly from exposure to sunlight, is a fat-soluble vitamin that is concerned mainly with bone health. The insufficiency/deficiency of vitamin D raises public health concern since it has been shown to be independently associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality. In the past few years, a growing interest in vitamin D status among females in the childbearing period has been observed. For women of childbearing age, maternal vitamin D malnutrition imposes multiple health impacts. Nevertheless, there are limited data regarding the vitamin D status among non-pregnant females in their childbearing period. Therefore, we performed the present cross-sectional study in order to evaluate the vitamin D level among a sample of Egyptian females during the child-bearing period and identify the factors affecting vitamin D level among studied females.