Background: Vitamin D is an essential component for maintaining and establishing body function. It is synthesized in the skin from the sunlight or is obtained from dietary supplements especially fatty fish. Vitamin D deficiency affects the majority of body functions; bone health is one among them that is majorly affected. This study aims to assess the vitamin D deficiency awareness among the medical students at Unaizah College of Medicine, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: This is an observational cross-sectional study conducted among the medical students at Unaizah College of Medicine, Qassim University, in the Al-Qassim province of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered, multiple-choice questionnaire was distributed among the medical students of the first-year level to the fifth-year level. Data were tabulated in Microsoft Excel and the analyses of data were carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21.
Results: The mean awareness score was 9.53 (standard deviation: 2.14) out of 15 points, with poor and good awareness identified among 51.2% and 48.8% of the medical students, respectively. The most commonly known diseases attributed to vitamin D deficiency was rickets (80.7%), followed by osteomalacia (79%), while the most frequently cited foods rich in vitamin D included dairy products such as milk and cheese (74.2%) and fatty fish like tuna (49.8%). When assessing the factors associated with awareness, only increasing age showed significant influence with better awareness (T = -2.618; p = 0.040).
Conclusion: Moderate awareness was found among the medical students of Unaizah College of Medicine, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. Increasing age and being a sophomore medical student were the significant predictors of better awareness of vitamin D deficiency.
Key words: Vitamin D deficiency, medical students, awareness, Unaizah.
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