Did Wearing Mask and Lockdowns Affect Vitamin D Levels During the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic?

Objective: To investigate the effects of wearing mask and lockdowns during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the vitamin D levels in females. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included female adults aged 18-64 years who underwent vitamin D evaluation at our hospital in April and May from 2017 to 2020. Vitamin D levels were categorized as follows: 30 ng/mL (normal). Results: A total of 835 (90.8%) out of 920 females had vitamin D deficiency, and among them 463 (50.3%) had vitamin D severe deficiency. In April and May of 2020 (during the national lockdown period), 74 (89.2%) out of 83 subjects had vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D levels were found to be higher in 2017 than the other years (p 0.05). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that there is a serious and urgent public health problem regarding with vitamin D deficiency (>90%) in our population;and about 50% of them had severe deficiency. This problem was not different during the lockdown period compared with the previous two years. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Amac: Koronavirus hastaligi-2019 (COVID-19) pandemisi sirasinda maske takmanin ve sokaga cikma yasaginin kadinlarda D vitamini duzeyleri uzerindeki etkilerini arastirmaktir. Gerec ve Yontem: Bu retrospektif calismaya 2017-2020 yillari arasinda Nisan ve Mayis aylarinda hastanemizde D vitamini degerlendirmesi yapilan 18-64 yas arasi eriskin kadinlar dahil edildi. D vitamini duzeyleri su sekilde kategorize edildi: 30 ng/mL (normal). Bulgular: Dokuz yuz yirmi kadindan toplam 835'inde (%90,8) D vitamini eksikligi, 463'unde (%50,3) ciddi D vitamini eksikligi vardi. 2020 yilinin Nisan ve Mayis aylarinda (ulusal karantina doneminde), 83 kisiden 74'unde (%89,2) D vitamini eksikligi vardi. 2017 yilinda D vitamini duzeyleri diger yillara gore daha yuksek bulundu (p 0,05). Sonuc: Bulgularimiz toplumumuzda D vitamini eksikligi (>%90) ile ilgili ciddi ve acil bir halk sagligi sorunu oldugunu gostermektedir;ve yaklasik %50'sinde ciddi eksiklik vardir. Bu sorun, karantina doneminde onceki iki yila kiyasla farkli degildir. (Turkish) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Turkish Journal of Osteoporosis / Turk Osteoporoz Dergisi is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)