Assessing Vitamin D Knowledge Among Syrian Adults: A population-based cross-sectional Study.

Abstract

Abstract Background The importance of vitamin D is increasing daily as more studies reveal its links to several benefits for the human body and the wide array of consequences that its deficiency has, that’s why we wanted to assess the knowledge level of vitamin D among the people living in Damascus, Syria. Methods This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Syrian Private University. A validated self-administered questionnaire was asked to be filled in by Syrian adults aged 18 and above, using google forms, between the 8th of August 2022 and the 5th of October 2022. Results 1168 participants were included. 1098 (94.1%) were of Syrian nationality, ages of [18–28 years] made the majority of the sample 634 (54.3%). Two-thirds of the sample does not belong to the medical field 769 (65.8%). The results of this paper showed a high level of knowledge among the participants for sources of vitamin D (83.9% ± 26.2%) and its benefits (75.8% ± 23.5%) but they lacked knowledge of treatment (50.6% ± 30.2%) and for the causes (45.1% ± 26.4%) and consequences (65.1% ± 47.7%) of deficiency, the general knowledge on vitamin D was (60.3% ± 18.6%). Conclusion This is the first population-based paper in Syria to evaluate the general awareness of vitamin D and it indicates an average of good knowledge. We discussed some of the inadequate knowledge regarding several aspects such as “Causes of vitamin D deficiency” which had the lowest knowledge (45.1% ± 26.4%). We found a strong correlation between vitamin D knowledge and level of education, father’s / mother’s level of education, economic status, working in the medical field and the source of knowledge on vitamin D. Effective strategies should be made to raise awareness, and further research is recommended for a nationwide assessment.