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Predictors of vitamin D biochemical status in a large sample of middle-aged male smokers in Finland

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 64, pages 280–288 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

As vitamin D deficiency is considered to be more common in regions with little solar ultraviolet (UV) light in winter, the aim of this study was to analyze predictors of vitamin D status by season within a large sample of male smokers from Finland, a country where there is negligible solar UV light in winter.

Subjects/Methods:

Vitamin D (measured by 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) nmol/l) and other serum constituents were assayed. Measured anthropometry, and self-reported dietary intake and physical activity (PA) were obtained and analyzed using stepwise multiple linear and logistic regression in 2271 middle-aged Finnish male smokers.

Results:

In all, 27% of the population in winter and 17% in summer had serum 25(OH)D levels of <25 nmol/l, respectively. In summer, in multiple logistic regression analyses with adjustment for confounding and other predictors, high vitamin D intake (odds ratios (OR) 3.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5–8.5), some leisure time PA (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.3–3.1) and having a body mass index (BMI) of ⩾21 kg/m2 compared with <21 kg/m2 (OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.3–5.0), were associated with 25(OH)D ⩾25 nmol/l. In winter, additional modifiable factors were occupational PA (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.1–2.5) and high fish (OR 3.1; 95% CI 1.7–6.2) or poultry consumption (OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.2–2.5). Predictors from linear regression analyses of continuous levels of 25(OH)D were similar to the logistic regression analyses of 25(OH)D ⩾25 nmol/l.

Conclusion:

In this Finnish sample more vitamin D intake, PA and having a BMI of ⩾21 may have important modifiable roles in maintaining an adequate vitamin D status.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH and the National Cancer Institute. In addition, this research was supported by the US Public Health Service contracts N01-CN-45165, N01-RC-45035 and N01-RC-37004 from the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services. All authors reviewed the final paper before submission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    K E Brock

  2. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD, USA

    B I Graubard, S J Weinstein, R Z Stolzenberg-Solomon & D Albanes

  3. School of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    D R Fraser

  4. Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

    U Lim

  5. Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD, USA

    J A Tangrea

  6. Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    J Virtamo

  7. Department of Research and Development, The George Institute, Beijing, China

    L Ke

  8. Information Management Services, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    K Snyder

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  1. K E Brock
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  2. B I Graubard
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  11. D Albanes
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Correspondence to K E Brock.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Table A1

Table a1 Predictors of vitamin D status (25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D) nmol/l) over the whole year (n=2271): in winter (n=1241) and summer (n=1030).
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Brock, K., Graubard, B., Fraser, D. et al. Predictors of vitamin D biochemical status in a large sample of middle-aged male smokers in Finland. Eur J Clin Nutr 64, 280–288 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2009.137

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