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Risk factors for developing vitamin D deficiency in adults

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Risk factors for developing low vitamin D levels include

  • lack of sun exposure
    • limited exposure to sunlight e.g. those living in the Northern Hemisphere during winter months, those who cover large areas of skin when outdoors or habitually use sun block,
  • people who have darker skin, for example people of African, African-Caribbean or South Asian origin, because their bodies are not able to make as much vitamin D
  • a vegan or vegetarian diet
  • malabsorptive diseases and other factors
    • short bowel syndrome, cholestatic liver disease
  • all pregnant and breastfeeding women, especially teenagers and young women
  • older people, aged 65 years and over
  • use of anticonvulsants, rifampicin, cholestyramine, HAART, glucocorticoids

Vitamin D deficiency and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

  • men with COPD were more likely to be vitamin D deficient than those with normal lung function (3)
    • vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased all-cause mortality in older men with no lung impairment as well as in those with restrictive or obstructive lung impairment.

Reference:

  1. NHS Coventry and Warwickshire. Brief Prescribing guide - Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults (February 2012)
  2. National Osteoporosis Sociaety (NOS) 2013. Vitamin D and Bone Health: A Practical Clinical Guideline for Patient Management
  3. Wannamethee SG, Welsh P, Papacosta O, et al. Vitamin D deficiency, impaired lung function and total and respiratory mortality in a cohort of older men: cross-sectional and prospective findings from The British Regional Heart Study. BMJ Open 2021;11:e051560. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051560

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