Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Frontiers in Psychology

Publication Date

6-12-2020

Abstract

© Copyright © 2020 Abboud, Rizk, Papandreou, Hijazi, Al Emadi and Waszak. Introduction: 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). Methods: 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 P < 0.05. Results: 105 respondents were Emiratis and 65 were international students. The average age was 21, with an average BMI 23.3 kg/m2. 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. Conclusion: Notably, more Emirati students were aware of the association between vitamin D and osteoporosis than International tourist students (40% vs. 21.9%, respectively; p < 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.

ISSN

1664-1078

Publisher

Frontiers Media S.A.

Volume

11

First Page

1236

Disciplines

Life Sciences

Keywords

Emiratis, habits, health, knowledge, tourists, vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency

Scopus ID

85087163813

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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