PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Weishaar, Tom
AU  - Rajan, Sonali
AU  - Keller, Bryan
TI  - Probability of Vitamin D Deficiency by Body Weight and Race/Ethnicity
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2016.02.150251
DP  - 2016 Mar 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - 226--232
VI  - 29
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/29/2/226.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/29/2/226.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2016 Mar 01; 29
AB  - Introduction: While most physicians recognize that vitamin D status varies by skin color because darker skin requires more light to synthesize vitamin D than lighter skin, the importance of body weight to vitamin D status is a newer, less recognized, finding. The purpose of this study was to use nationally representative US data to determine the probability of vitamin D deficiency by body weight and skin color.Methods: Using data for individuals age ≥6 years from the 2001 to 2010 cycles of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we calculated the effect of skin color, body weight, and age on vitamin D status. We determined the probability of deficiency within the normal range of body weight for 3 race/ethnicity groups at 3 target levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D.Results: Darker skin colors and heavier body weights are independently and significantly associated with poorer vitamin D status. We report graphically the probability of vitamin D deficiency by body weight and skin color at vitamin D targets of 20 and 30 ng/mL.Conclusion: The effects of skin color and body weight on vitamin D status are large both statistically and clinically. Knowledge of these effects may facilitate diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency.