Obesity and vitamin D deficiency: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

• Published in: Obesity reviews Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 341 - 349
• Main Authors: Pereira‐Santos, M, Costa, P. R. F, Assis, A. M. O, Santos, C. A. S. T, Santos, D. B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Pub 01.04.2015; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: 25-hydroxy vitamin D; Age Distribution; Eutrophication; human development; Humans; latitude; meta-analysis; Obesity; Obesity - blood; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - etiology; Observational studies; Prevalence; systematic review; Vitamin D; Vitamin D - analogs & derivatives; vitamin D deficiency; Vitamin D Deficiency - blood; Vitamin D Deficiency - complications; Vitamin D Deficiency - epidemiology; meta-analysis; 25-hydroxy vitamin D; obesity; vitamin D deficiency
• ISSN: 1467-7881; 1467-789X; 1467-789X
• DOI: 10.1111/obr.12239

Over the past decade, there have been an increasing number of studies on the association between vitamin D deficiency and anthropometric state. However, we did not identify any meta‐analyses of the relationship between obesity and vitamin D deficiency in different age groups. Thus, we evaluated the association between obesity and vitamin D deficiency. We searched for observational studies published up to April 2014 in PubMed/Medline, Web of Science and Scopus databases. We performed a meta‐analysis in accordance with the random‐effects model to obtain the summary measurement (prevalence ratio, PR). Among the 29,882 articles identified, 23 met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 35% higher in obese subjects compared to the eutrophic group (PR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.21–1.50) and 24% higher than in the overweight group (PR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.14–1.34). These results indicate that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was more elevated in obese subjects. The vitamin D deficiency was associated with obesity irrespective of age, latitude, cut‐offs to define vitamin D deficiency and the Human Development Index of the study location.