Original Research
Vitamin D deficiency and anemia among pharmacy students
Naser M. Alaasswad, Amna I. Jebril, Hajir A. Ahmed, Roqaia S. Almahdi, Mustafa A. Alssageer
Abstract :
Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D is not restricted to the elderly and hospitalized population. Worldwide, the rate of prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has grown up rapidly in adults over the past decades. Among Libyan population including young students may has a high risk of vitamin D deficiency. The aims of this study were to examine vitamin D status among pharmacy students of Sebha University and to study the hematological profile as well as correlation of vitamin D deficiency with 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 the Sebha University. The blood samples were collected randomly from 62 pharmacy students to analysis complete blood count and 25-hydroxyvitamin D. The concentration of hemoglobin on total student was 12.5 ± 1.9 g/dl which was normal according to the WHO level (12.0 g/dl). Out of 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 profile as HCT, MCV, MHC and MCHC where statistically significant lower but the counts of RBCs, WBC and platelets were not on anemic group comparing to normal group. The present study reported that 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 vitamin D deficiency category while (n = 05, 08.0%) of students had vitamin D insufficiency. In conclusion, prevalence of hypovitaminosis D (low 25-hydroxyvitamin D) among the pharmacy students at Sebha University was highly occurrence with concomitant a high rate of prevalence of anemia. Thus, vitamin D deficiency at this age represents a public health problem that should be addressed.