High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Background Deficiencies of micronutrients can affect the growth and development of children. There is increasing evidence of vitamin D deficiency world-wide resulting in nutritional rickets in children and osteoporosis in adulthood. Data on the micronutrient status of children in Malaysia is limite...

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Main Authors:	Khor, Geok Lin, Chee, Winnie S S, Mohd Shariff, Zalilah, Poh, Bee K, Arumugam, Mohan, Ab Rahman, Jamalludin, Theobald, Hannah E
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	BioMed Central 2011
Subjects:	RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/4/1471-2458-11-95.pdf

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spelling	iium-14112016-03-10T02:32:21Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/ High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Khor, Geok Lin Chee, Winnie S S Mohd Shariff, Zalilah Poh, Bee K Arumugam, Mohan Ab Rahman, Jamalludin Theobald, Hannah E RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine Background Deficiencies of micronutrients can affect the growth and development of children. There is increasing evidence of vitamin D deficiency world-wide resulting in nutritional rickets in children and osteoporosis in adulthood. Data on the micronutrient status of children in Malaysia is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the anthropometric and micronutrient status of primary school children in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Methods A cross sectional study of primary aged school children was undertaken in 2008. A total of 402 boys and girls aged 7-12 years, attending primary schools in Kuala Lumpur participated in the study. Fasting blood samples were taken to assess vitamin D [as 25(OH)D], vitamin B12, folate, zinc, iron, and ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations. Height-for-age and body mass index for age (BMI-for-age) of the children were computed. Results Most of the children had normal height-for-age (96.5%) while slightly over half (58.0%) had normal BMI-for-age. A total of 17.9% were overweight and 16.4% obese. Prevalence of obesity was significantly higher among the boys (25%) than in the girls (9.5%) (χ2 = 22.949; P < .001). Most children had adequate concentrations of haemoglobin, serum ferritin, zinc, folate and vitamin B12. In contrast, 35.3% of the children had serum 25(OH)D concentrations indicative of vitamin D deficiency(≤37.5 nmol/L) and a further 37.1% had insufficiency concentrations (> 37.5-≤50 nmol/L). Among the boys, a significant inverse association was found between serum vitamin D status and BMI-for-age (χ2 = 5.958; P = .016). Conclusions This study highlights the presence of a high prevalence of sub-optimal vitamin D status among urban primary school children in a tropical country. In light of the growing problem of obesity in Malaysian children, these findings emphasize the important need for appropriate interventions to address both problems of obesity and poor vitamin D status in children. BioMed Central 2011-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/4/1471-2458-11-95.pdf Khor, Geok Lin and Chee, Winnie S S and Mohd Shariff, Zalilah and Poh, Bee K and Arumugam, Mohan and Ab Rahman, Jamalludin and Theobald, Hannah E (2011) High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. BMC Public Health, 11. pp. 95-102. ISSN 1471-2458 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/95 10.1186/1471-2458-11-95
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
spellingShingle	RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine Khor, Geok Lin Chee, Winnie S S Mohd Shariff, Zalilah Poh, Bee K Arumugam, Mohan Ab Rahman, Jamalludin Theobald, Hannah E High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
description	Background Deficiencies of micronutrients can affect the growth and development of children. There is increasing evidence of vitamin D deficiency world-wide resulting in nutritional rickets in children and osteoporosis in adulthood. Data on the micronutrient status of children in Malaysia is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the anthropometric and micronutrient status of primary school children in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Methods A cross sectional study of primary aged school children was undertaken in 2008. A total of 402 boys and girls aged 7-12 years, attending primary schools in Kuala Lumpur participated in the study. Fasting blood samples were taken to assess vitamin D [as 25(OH)D], vitamin B12, folate, zinc, iron, and ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations. Height-for-age and body mass index for age (BMI-for-age) of the children were computed. Results Most of the children had normal height-for-age (96.5%) while slightly over half (58.0%) had normal BMI-for-age. A total of 17.9% were overweight and 16.4% obese. Prevalence of obesity was significantly higher among the boys (25%) than in the girls (9.5%) (χ2 = 22.949; P < .001). Most children had adequate concentrations of haemoglobin, serum ferritin, zinc, folate and vitamin B12. In contrast, 35.3% of the children had serum 25(OH)D concentrations indicative of vitamin D deficiency(≤37.5 nmol/L) and a further 37.1% had insufficiency concentrations (> 37.5-≤50 nmol/L). Among the boys, a significant inverse association was found between serum vitamin D status and BMI-for-age (χ2 = 5.958; P = .016). Conclusions This study highlights the presence of a high prevalence of sub-optimal vitamin D status among urban primary school children in a tropical country. In light of the growing problem of obesity in Malaysian children, these findings emphasize the important need for appropriate interventions to address both problems of obesity and poor vitamin D status in children.
format	Article
author	Khor, Geok Lin Chee, Winnie S S Mohd Shariff, Zalilah Poh, Bee K Arumugam, Mohan Ab Rahman, Jamalludin Theobald, Hannah E
author_facet	Khor, Geok Lin Chee, Winnie S S Mohd Shariff, Zalilah Poh, Bee K Arumugam, Mohan Ab Rahman, Jamalludin Theobald, Hannah E
author_sort	Khor, Geok Lin
title	High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
title_short	High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
title_full	High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
title_fullStr	High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed	High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
title_sort	high prevalence of vitamin d insufficiency and its association with bmi-for-age among primary school children in kuala lumpur, malaysia
publisher	BioMed Central
publishDate	2011
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1411/4/1471-2458-11-95.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:08:45Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:08:45Z
_version_	1777407334890340352

High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and its association with BMI-for-age among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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