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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1407890
This article is part of the Research Topic Vitamin D: From Pathophysiology to Clinical Impact Volume II View all 9 articles

Changes in Vitamin D Status Among Adults From the COVID-19 Pandemic to Post-Pandemic Normality

Provisionally accepted
Yanzhao Chen Yanzhao Chen *Guilian Kong Guilian Kong *
  • Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vitamin D status among adults. A total of 1525 adults from Henan Provincial People's Hospital were included. The results revealed a significant difference in overall 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels between 2022 [18.14, 13.78, 23.68] and 2023 [19.15, 14.88, 25.01, p=0.004]. Notably, males exhibited a substantial difference in 25(OH)D levels, 18.01 [14.10, 23.53] in 2022 and 20.49 [16.11, 26.01] in 2023 (p<0.001). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was significantly higher in 2022 (62%) compared to 2023 (54.9%, p=0.009), with males having higher rates of deficiency (64.1% in 2022 and 47.2% in 2023). These findings were supported by an independent cohort of 168 individuals tested in both years, showing overall 25(OH)D levels of 20.73 ± 9.37 in 2022 and 22.28 ± 8.59 in 2023 (p=0.012), and vitamin D deficiency rates of 58.3% in 2022 and 47.0% in 2023 (p=0.038). In the 40-49 age group, 25(OH)D levels were significantly lower in 2022 [16.10, 12.41, 21.18] compared to 2023 [18.28, 13.91, 23.86, p=0.005], with a higher vitamin D deficiency rate in 2022 (72.8%) compared to 2023 (59.9%, p=0.02). Furthermore, in February, March, and April, 2022, 25(OH)D levels were significantly lower compared to 2023 (p<0.001, p=0.002, p<0.001, respectively), accompanied by a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (p<0.001, p=0.015, p<0.001, respectively). In conclusion, our study findings indicate an elevated prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among the adult population, with particular emphasis on adult males, during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Keywords: Vitamin D, adults, COVID-19, pandemic, China

    Received: 27 Mar 2024; Accepted: 23 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen and Kong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yanzhao Chen, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
    Guilian Kong, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China

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