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Article
Knowledge about Vitamin D among Women in the United Arab Emirates
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Sharifa AlBlooshi, Zayed University
  • Fatme Al Anouti, Zayed University
  • Rafiq Hijazi, Zayed University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2023
Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is a significant public health issue as it affects almost 90% of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) population. A bigger portion of this percentage is women due to the physiological changes throughout their life cycle. This study aims to assess the knowledge about vitamin D among women in the UAE. This is a quantitative cross-sectional study. Using snowball sampling, an electronic questionnaire was sent to women aged 18 years and above. Overall, 1537 women completed the questionnaire. The participants had mean scores of 49.4 ± 10.7 and 59.6 ± 14.6 for general and nutritional knowledge, respectively. Factors associated with higher scores included older age, marriage, higher educational level, and having tested their vitamin D levels. Factors associated with lower scores included the history of a chronic illness and being employed. Findings indicate that women in this study showed a low level of vitamin D knowledge specifically regarding the non-skeletal benefits of vitamin D and factors that affect vitamin D synthesis. Therefore, health education and promotion programs must be implemented across the UAE to improve overall awareness about vitamin D.

Publisher
MDPI AG
Keywords
  • Knowledge,
  • UAE,
  • Vitamin D,
  • Women
Scopus ID
85146443402
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
Yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series
Citation Information
Sharifa AlBlooshi, Fatme Al Anouti and Rafiq Hijazi. "Knowledge about Vitamin D among Women in the United Arab Emirates" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 20 Iss. 2 (2023) ISSN: <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/1661-7827" target="_blank">1661-7827</a>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rafiq-hijazi/8/