Prevalence and Determinants of Vitamin D Deficiency in Children Aged 0–5 years in Jiangsu Province of China: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study

Abstract

Abstract Objectives To explore the vitamin D status and its related factors in infants and preschool. Methods This was a large population-based multicenter study in which the representative children aged 0–5 years were recruited from 12 Children's Health Care Centers by a stratified cluster random-sampling method in 10 cities of Jiangsu Province, China. Kruskal-wallis test was used to describe median differences by continuous variables and chi-square test was used to examine differences in categorical variables. The associations between characteristics and risk factors with vitamin D deficiency and 25(OH)D level were used to evaluate by binary logistic regression and general linear model regression. Results A total of 5289 children (2786 boys and 2503 girls) were investigated. The prevalence of deficiency vitamin D were 30.1%, The overall level of 25(OH)D was 64.0 (46.3 ∼ 83.0) nmol/ml. 0–5 year old children with higher odds of vitamin D deficiency and lower 25(OH)D level were more likely to be at older age, girls, survey in spring, location in southern of Jiangsu province, preference for meat and sweets, meat intake > 150.0 g/d, time of sleeping < 10 h/d and outdoor activity < 2 h/d (all P < 0.05). However, those with lower odds of vitamin D deficiency and higher 25(OH)D level were more likely to be the number of parity≥ 2 times, milk intake ≥ 250 ml/d, vitamin D supplementation from birth to 6 months, the initial time of vitamin D supplementation after birth ≤ 1 months, vitamin D supplementation and calcium supplementation in the last 3 months, and daily dose of vitamin D supplementation > 400 IU (all P < 0.05). Conclusions Most 0–5 year old children in Jiangsu province have poor vitamin D levels. The 25(OH)D levels and vitamin D deficiency were associated with age, gender, parity, season of survey, region of residence, daily intake of milk, meat, vitamin D and calcium supplementation, the initial time of vitamin D supplementation after birth, preference for eating meat and sweets, time of sleeping and outdoor activity every day for children. Funding Sources This work was funded by the construction fund for key subjects of women and children of Jiangsu Province (FXK201203).