Abstract
One billion people globally have been affected by vitamin D deficiency and its associated diseases; therefore, the present study was aimed to estimate the knowledge, awareness and practices of vitamin D in the Qassim region of the adult population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 195 of the general adult population in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia from 15th September 2020 to 25th October 2020. The results revealed that a high percentage of participants are cognizant of vitamin D (93.8%). Also, it appears that there was no association between knowledge and awareness of vitamin D and age, gender, education or social status. Around 82.6% of the participants know the sources of vitamin D and the majority of participants enjoy sun exposure (79%), where the most time exposed to the sun is early in the morning and after 3 pm, reported to at 43.6% and 52.3%, respectively. In addition, about 35% of participants increased their knowledge of vitamin D after the emergence of COVID-19. A high percentage of participants thought that vitamin D raising the body immunity against viral infection or improve immunity, in general, was at 67.7%, that thought that vitamin D prevents or increase resistance to COVID-19. From the foregoing results, it could be concluded that a high level of knowledge and awareness about vitamin D in adults living in the Qassim region and increased knowledge after the emergence of COVID-19 is the most important result of the current study.
Highlights
Vitamin D is considered an immunomodulatory agent and has hormonal action related to the maintenance of mineral and skeletal homeostasis is essential for maintaining a healthy skeleton
While knowledge and attitude about vitamin D after the majority knew the right sources of vitamin D and its COVID-19 pandemic
A high level of knowledge and awareness about vitamin D in general adults living in the Qassim region were reported
Summary
Vitamin D is considered an immunomodulatory agent and has hormonal action related to the maintenance of mineral and skeletal homeostasis is essential for maintaining a healthy skeleton. The main function of vitamin D is to regulate the metabolism of calcium and phosphate in the body (Holick, 2007; Prietl et al, 2013). The primary source of vitamin D in the human body is from the exposure of skin to ultraviolet light which represents more than 90% of vitamin D needed for humans. The 7-dehydrocholesterol under the skin is converted to ultraviolet light band B (UVB) to an inactive precursor vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). The remaining need for vitamin D (10%) is gained from different food sources rich in vitamin D (Holick, 2004). Many factors can affect the synthesis of vitamin D for UVB under the skin such as latitude, pollution, solar zenith angles, ozone layer and pigmentation (Holick, 2007)
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