According to information in the article, vitamin D is crucial for calcium absorption and bone growth during childhood and adolescence. Studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized and common health problem among young adults, elderly persons, and youths.
Catherine M. Gordon, M.D., M.Sc., of Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues investigated the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among 307 healthy adolescents (aged 11 to 18 years) recruited at an annual physical examination (between July 1, 2001 and June 30, 2003) to undergo a blood test and nutrition and activity assessment.
The researchers found that 74 patients (24.1 percent) were vitamin D deficient, of whom 14 (4.6 percent) were severely vitamin D deficient. Using a broader definition of vitamin D deficiency, 129 patients (42 percent) were vitamin D insufficient. The researchers also found that season, ethnicity, milk and juice consumption, body mass index, and physical activity were significant predictors of vitamin D insufficiency.
The researchers conclude: "Vitamin D deficiency was present in many U.S. adolescents in this urban clinic-based sample. The prevalence was highest in African American teenagers and during winter, although the problem seems to be common across sex, season, and ethnicity."
(Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158:531-537. Available post-embargo at archpediatrics.com) Editor's Note: This study was supported in part by the Charles H. Hood Foundation, Boston; the McCarthy Family Foundation, New York, N.Y.; a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.; and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Washington, D.C.
To contact Catherine M. Gordon, M.D., M.Sc., call Mary Ellen Shay at 617-355-6420.
For more information, contact JAMA/Archives Media Relations at 312/464-JAMA (5262) or e-mail mediarelations@jama-archives.org .
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine