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A systematic review of vitamin D status in southern European countries

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite an acknowledged dearth of data on serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations from Southern European countries, inter-country comparison is hampered by inconsistent data reporting. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic literature review of available data on serum 25(OH)D concentrations and estimate vitamin D status in Southern European and Eastern Mediterranean countries, both at a population level and within key population subgroups, stratified by age, sex, season and country.

Methods

A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify and retrieve scientific articles reporting data on serum 25(OH)D concentration and/or vitamin D status following standard procedures.

Results

Data were extracted from 107 studies, stratified by sex and age group, representing 630,093 individuals. More than one-third of the studies reported mean 25(OH)D concentrations below 50 nmol/L and ~ 10% reported mean serum 25(OH)D concentrations below 25 nmol/L. Overall, females, neonates/ infants and adolescents had the higher prevalence of poor vitamin D status. As expected, there was considerable variability between studies. Specifically, mean 25(OH)D ranged from 6.0 (in Italian centenarians) to 158 nmol/L (in elderly Turkish men); the prevalence of serum 25(OH)D < 50 nmol/L ranged from 6.8 to 97.9% (in Italian neonates).

Conclusions

Contrary to expectations, there was a high prevalence of low vitamin D status in the Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean regions, despite abundant sunshine. These data further emphasize the need for strategies, such as fortification of foods with vitamin D and/or vitamin D supplementation, which will be tailored to the needs of specific population groups with higher risk of insufficiency or deficiency, to efficiently tackle the pandemic of hypovitaminosis D in Europe.

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Acknowledgements

YM, GM, CPL, KT, PB, AK, CB and MGG contributed to the systematic review of the literature. All authors contributed to the writing, critical review and approval of the final version of the manuscript for publication. The present review was supported by funding received from the European Commission under its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) ODIN (grant agreement no. 613977). The authors would like to thank Dr. Colette O’Neill, University College Cork, for her help in preparation of the vitamin D status maps.

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Manios, Y., Moschonis, G., Lambrinou, CP. et al. A systematic review of vitamin D status in southern European countries. Eur J Nutr 57, 2001–2036 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-017-1564-2

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