Vitamin D deficiency as a major public health burden in the United Arab Emirates

Recent studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to many chronic morbidities like type I diabetes, osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. Adequate levels of vitamin D are often attained after sun exposure, however, numerous risk factors including obesity, darker skin color, and extensive body covering could lead to vitamin D deficiency. Hence, vitamin D deficiency is gradually becoming a serious public-health burden in many countries including the UAE given the abundance of risk factors. Previous pilot studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among young Emirati mothers and their infants because of inadequate sun exposure, but there is a deficit of substantial studies aiming at examining vitamin D status across all the demographic segments of adults within Abu Dhabi or any of the other emirates. We have started a population-based study which aims at developing a thorough and comprehensive examination of the vitamin D status of a large representative sample of the multiethnic adult population residing in Abu Dhabi. Major specific goals are: (1) to assess the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency; (2) to examine the influence of demographic (e.g., education, gender), psychosocial and lifestyle (e.g., living accommodation, sunlight exposure) factors on vitamin D status; (3) to investigate whether ethnicity and gender could affect the risk etiology of vitamin D deficiency in Abu Dhabi. We hope that the project would also encourage the establishment of regional consensus on vitamin D deficiency encompassing all the Middle East similar to that of osteoporosis.