Vitamin D deficiency and anemia among pharmacy students
Naser M. Alaasswad, Amna I. Jebril, Hajir A. Ahmed, Roqaia S. Almahdi, Mustafa A. Alssageer
Abstract
The prevalence of hypovitaminosis D is not restricted to the elderly and hospitalized population. Worldwide, the rate of prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has grown rapidly in adults over the past decades. Among Libyan population including young students may have a high risk of vitamin D deficiency. This study aims to examine vitamin D status among pharmacy students of Sebha University and to study the hematological profile as well as the correlation of vitamin D deficiency with the incidence of anemia among the students. This study was carried out on Pharmacy students from 13th January to 12th March 2020. This is a cross-sectional study designed to determine vitamin D status among healthy young pharmacy students studying at Sebha University. The blood samples were collected randomly from 62 pharmacy students to analyze complete blood count and 25-hydroxyvitamin D. The concentration of hemoglobin in total students was 12.5±1.9 g/dl which was normal according to the WHO level (12.0 g/dl). Out of the total, 36 students (59.1%) were found to have normal hemoglobin concentration (13.7±1.4 g/dl) and 26 students (40.9 %) were found to have low hemoglobin concentration (10.8±1.1 g/dl). Other blood profiles as HCT, MCV, MHC and MCHC were statistically significantly lower but the counts of RBCs, WBC and platelets were not in the anemic group compared to the normal group. The present study reported that the majority of pharmacy students in male and female blood donors have low vitamin D levels which represent (87.0%). Out of the total participants (n=54) who have low vitamin D (n=49, 79.0%) were classified under the vitamin D deficiency category while (n=05, 08.0%) of students had vitamin D insufficiency. In conclusion, the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D (low 25-hydroxyvitamin D) among the pharmacy students at Sebha University was a high occurrence with a high rate of prevalence of anemia. Thus, vitamin D deficiency at this age represents a public health problem that should be addressed.
Keywords
References
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Submitted date:
05/07/2022
Reviewed date:
06/13/2022
Accepted date:
06/20/2022
Publication date:
07/21/2024