Vitamin D deficiency in Europe: pandemic?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Vitamin D deficiency has been described as being pandemic, but serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] distribution data for the European Union are of very variable quality. The NIH-led international Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) has developed protocols for standardizing existing 25(OH)D values from national health/nutrition surveys.

Objective

This study applied VDSP protocols to serum 25(OH)D data from representative childhood/teenage and adult/older adult European populations, representing a sizable geographical footprint, to better quantify the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Europe.

Design

The VDSP protocols were applied in 14 population studies [reanalysis of subsets of serum 25(OH)D in 11 studies and complete analysis of all samples from

SUBMITTER: Cashman KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5527850 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature