Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its association with coffee consumption among female staff of a Medical Center in Tehran, Iran

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Purpose: Several aspects can affect serum vitamin D concentrations. The present research was proposed to control the frequency of vitamin D deficiency amongst female staff of a medical center in Tehran, and to categorize the risk factors which predisposed them to advanced danger of vitamin D deficiency. Methods: Six hundred fifty-one female staff of a Medical Center, aged between 20 and 67 years, were registered into this prospective cross-sectional study. Data including age, education, reproductive history and employment records of all the participants was entered in a questionnaire. Their daily consumption of different types of food and beverages was also recorded. Blood serum levels of 25-dihydroxy vitamin D was studied. Results: We found that 400 out of 651 working staff (61.5%) had vitamin D deficiency (25(OH)D level <20 ng/ml), while 46.4% suffered from severe deficiency (serum 25(OH) D < 12 ng/ml). No significant association was found between serum vitamin D levels and their daily dietary consumption of meat, nuts, vegetables, fruit, salad, and tea. It was discovered that coffee consumption had significant association with lower levels of serum vitamin D (P<0.05). Staff`s record of service and use of calcium-D and multivitamin supplements were found to be the factors inversely related to vitamin D deficiency. Each year increase in their duration of employment was associated with a 5% decrease in their risk of developing vitamin D Deficiency (OR = 0.953 (0.913-0.99; p = 0.0264)). Also, use of calcium-D and multivitamin supplements reduced the risk of vitamin D deficiency by 53% (OR = 0.479 (0.266-0.862); p = 0.014), and 52% (OR = 0.482 (0.271-0.856); p = 0.013), respectively. Conclusion: The study revealed that vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent among working women of the medical center and was inversely associated with their age, duration of employment, and use of multivitamins and calcium-D supplements. We found that coffee drinking was significantly connected with lower serum vitamin D status in the studied population.