Attitude and awareness of health care providers towards the therapeutic and prophylactic roles of Vitamin D

Abstract

In recent years, the role of Vitamin D in extra-skeletal tissue has been strongly emphasized. The importance of optimizing Vitamin D levels in patients with chronic diseases and for risk reduction of many of those diseases including certain types of cancer is being increasingly recognized. Knowledge of the rapidly emerging, therapeutic and preventive utilities of Vitamin D is suboptimal among the health care providers (HPs). HPs do not regularly evaluate or optimize Vitamin D levels in patients. This study was conducted to explore the awareness, knowledge and attitude of HPs towards the current therapeutic and preventive roles of Vitamin D. A survey of HPs was conducted during the preregistration for a Vitamin D Symposium conducted at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh. The participants were asked to answer a questionnaire pertaining to the significance of Vitamin D in chronic diseases, diagnosis and prevalence of Vitamin D inadequacy, optimal levels of Vitamin D for health and disease prevention, laboratory estimates and treatment regimens. A total of 150 participants completed the survey. Out of these, 118 (78.7%) HPs were aware of extra-skeletal Vitamin D receptors and 125 (83.3%) knew about its role in extra-skeletal health. While 25 (16.7%) of the HPs were not sure about the role of Vitamin D in chronic diseases, 108 (74.4%) HPs knew about the role of Vitamin D in reducing cancer risk and 96 (64%) HPs were aware that the Vitamin D reduces overall mortality. The HPs largely underestimated the correct global prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency. A majority of the HPs were not clear about the normal levels, cut off levels for diagnosis of deficiency, frequency of measurement and the form of Vitamin D that needs to be assayed. 102 (68%) HPs were of the opinion that up to 400 IU/day of Vitamin D3 was the maintenance dose to prevent Vitamin D deficiency in adults who had been treated for Vitamin D deficiency. A large number of HPs were unaware of the adequate sources of Vitamin D for the healthy adults. All HPs supported the need for guidelines pertaining to Vitamin D deficiency. This is one of the first studies from this region providing objective evidence that HPs’ knowledge of Vitamin D is suboptimal. This highlights the need to rectify the existing Vitamin D care gap. This could be achieved by intensifying Vitamin D-related education, establishing guidelines and ensuring the diffusion of these guidelines to the HPs.