Knowledge about Vitamin D among Women in the United Arab Emirates

Sharifa AlBlooshi (), Fatme Al Anouti and Rafiq Hijazi
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Sharifa AlBlooshi: Department of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Dubai P.O. Box 19282, United Arab Emirates
Fatme Al Anouti: Department of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates
Rafiq Hijazi: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-12

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.

Keywords: Vitamin D; knowledge; women; UAE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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