Abstract

STUDY TO KNOW THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE GENERAL POPULATION REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF VITAMIN D

K. B. Jain, S. K. Gupta, Pratap Shankar*, Dheeraj Kumar Singh, Sachin Tutu, Preet Lakhani, Amod Kumar Sachan, R. K. Dixit

ABSTRACT

Background: The worldwide increased prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in both children and adults has been related to various factors like exposure time of skin to ultraviolet radiation, skin pigmentation and vitamin D intake. Apart from several risk factors, the lack of awareness is also posing a serious threat for low vitamin D levels in all the age groups. Aims & Objective: To know the vitamin D status in general population based on the knowledge & to make them aware regarding the importance of vitamin D in body. Material & Method: A total of 300 people were randomly selected in Lucknow city. Written informed consent was taken from them prior to inclusion. A pre designed and approved questionnaire, which included information on socio-demographics, polar questions (yes or no questions) with regards to knowledge about vitamin D and vitamin D associated diseases were administered to all subjects with multiple choice questions about sunlight exposure and duration. Results: In case of vitamin D knowledge, higher number of men answered ‘yes’ to 7 out of 11 questions. Men have higher rate of sun exposure compared to women. And as expacted women are using more sun screen than men. Conclusion: There was lack of knowledge about vitamin D. School and primary care centres were not able to provide information on the importance of vitamin D in bone health growth and development of children. Awareness of the benefits of the sunlight needs to be increased by provision of specific about how often sun exposure is required, the duration and how much of the body should be exposed for optimal vitamin D uptake. Efforts to educate children about importance and role of vitamin D through sources like media and health professionals are needed.

Keywords: Vitamin D, Knowledge, General population.