Abboud Myriam, Rizk Rana, Papandreou Dimitrios, Hijazi Rafiq, Al Emadi Nada Edris, Waszak Przemyslaw M
College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Institut National de Santé Publique, d'Épidémiologie Clinique et de Toxicologie (INSPECT-LB), Beirut, Lebanon.
Front Psychol. 2020 Jun 12;11:1236. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01236. eCollection 2020.
Globally, vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies, affecting nearly half the world's population. The objective of this survey was to assess and compare the knowledge about vitamin D and the perceived state of health in Emirati and international tourist female students in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This is a cross-sectional study that took place in universities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This survey consisted of 17 multiple choice questions and was adapted from a study recently conducted in Poland. The first part of the survey assessed levels of supplementation, diet and UV exposure. Another section evaluated the participants' self-assessed state of health in terms of vitamin D testing, symptoms related to vitamin D deficiency and general welbeing. The collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS statistics for windows version 26.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, United States). Statistical significance was set at < 0.05.
105 respondents were Emiratis and 65 were international students. The average age was 21, with an average BMI 23.3 kg/m. Almost one-third of each group reported using Vitamin D supplements once weekly. The vast majority of both groups reported rarely getting tanned. Almost all participants in both groups reported regular consumption of Vitamin D rich foods. In both groups, more than half reported consuming milk and cheese regularly and up to one-third reported consuming fish in a regular manner. Although more than half of the students rated their health as good; more than two-thirds reported experiencing muscle pain; only half reported having their blood Vitamin D levels measured once; half reported experiencing problems with concentration and more than three-quarters reported experiencing bad mood in the past month. The prevalence of these symptoms was almost similar across different categories of vitamin D supplementation, tanning habits, dietary intake, or nationality. No statistically significant differences were noted between the Emirati and International tourist students regarding any of the studied variables.
Notably, more Emirati students were aware of the association between vitamin D and osteoporosis than International tourist students (40% vs. 21.9%, respectively; < 0.05). On the other hand, both groups had lower knowledge about the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and depression, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hypertension, and the optimal vitamin D level; however, no statistically significant differences were noted regarding this knowledge of Emiratis and international students.
在全球范围内，维生素D缺乏是最常见的缺乏症之一，影响着近一半的世界人口。本次调查的目的是评估和比较阿联酋迪拜的阿联酋女大学生和国际旅游女学生对维生素D的了解以及她们所感知的健康状况。
这是一项在阿拉伯联合酋长国迪拜的大学中进行的横断面研究。该调查由17道多项选择题组成，改编自最近在波兰进行的一项研究。调查的第一部分评估了补充剂的使用水平、饮食和紫外线暴露情况。另一部分从维生素D检测、维生素D缺乏相关症状和总体幸福感方面评估了参与者自我评估的健康状况。使用适用于Windows版本26.0的SPSS统计软件（SPSS公司，美国伊利诺伊州芝加哥）对收集到的数据进行统计分析。统计学显著性设定为<0.05。
105名受访者是阿联酋人，65名是国际学生。平均年龄为21岁，平均体重指数为23.3kg/m。每组中近三分之一的人报告每周服用一次维生素D补充剂。两组中的绝大多数人报告很少被晒黑。两组中几乎所有参与者都报告经常食用富含维生素D的食物。在两组中，超过一半的人报告经常食用牛奶和奶酪，多达三分之一的人报告经常食用鱼类。虽然超过一半的学生将自己的健康状况评为良好；但超过三分之二的人报告有肌肉疼痛；只有一半的人报告曾测量过一次血液中的维生素D水平；一半的人报告有注意力不集中的问题，超过四分之三的人报告在过去一个月中有情绪低落的情况。这些症状的患病率在不同类别的维生素D补充剂、晒黑习惯、饮食摄入或国籍之间几乎相似。在任何研究变量方面，阿联酋学生和国际旅游学生之间均未发现统计学上的显著差异。
值得注意的是，与国际旅游学生相比，更多的阿联酋学生意识到维生素D与骨质疏松症之间的关联（分别为40%对21.9%；<0.05）。另一方面，两组对维生素D缺乏与抑郁症、类风湿性关节炎和高血压之间的关系以及最佳维生素D水平的了解都较少；然而，在这方面，阿联酋学生和国际学生之间未发现统计学上的显著差异。
