Seasonal variance of 25-(OH) vitamin D in the general population of Estonia, a Northern European country

BMC Public Health

Table 3 25(OH)D status in population studies of adults (15+) in the order of latitude.

Location	Latitude	Method	N	Population representation (subjects per capita)	Vitamin D (nmol/L), mean and/or range		Deficiency % <25 nmol/L		Insufficiency % <50 nmol/L
					summer	winter	summer	winter	summer	winter
New Zealand [30]	35–47S	RIA Diasorin	2946	1:1,400	67	44	0–10		48
Japan [31]	35 N	RIA Disaorin	197	1:647,000	79	38	ND	ND	1	87
US [32]	25–47 N	RIA Disaorin	18462*	1:16,200	62–90	60–79	1–3	1–5	8–34	13–40
Italy [14]	40 N	RIA Disaorin	90	1:645,000	84	43	2 **	18 **	4	70
Switzerland [33]	46–47 N	CPB Amersham	3276	1:2,300	ND	50 †	ND	6 †	ND	34–95 †
France [7]	43–51 N	RIA Incstar	1569	1:39,000	ND	61 (43–94)	ND	14 **	ND	75 ***
Germany [29]	49 N	RIA Incstar	415	1:199,000	67–70	40–45	~5 ††	30–40	ND	ND
Belgium [18]	50 N	ChL Diasorin	126	1:82,000	ND	48	ND	ND	ND	34 †††
Estonia	59 N	RIA Disaorin	367	1:3,600	59	44	<1	8	29	73
Finland [26]	60 N	RIA Incstar	328	1:16,000	ND	46	ND	26–28	ND	56–86 ***

* Two different seasonal sub-populations; ** level of <30 nmol/L used to define deficiency; *** own specific cut-off for insufficiency (based on PTH curve) was used; † data from October to June (no summer months); †† no official data in paper (calculated from a figure); ††† level of <37.5 nmol/L was defined as insufficient; ND – no data.

ISSN: 1471-2458