The prevalence and determinants of use of vitamin D supplements among children in Alberta, Canada: a cross-sectional study

Table 1 General characteristics and the prevalence of supplement use of 10–11 year-old students in Alberta, Canada

	All students, %^a (n = 2686)	Vitamin D supplement users (with or without multivitamin use), % (n = 769)^a	Multivitamin supplement users (with or without vitamin D supplement use), % (n = 1468)
Gender
Girls	53.49	51.81	54.57
Boys	46.51	48.19	45.43
Parental education^b
Secondary or less	23.19	19.68	21.07
College	33.54	35.87	34.28
University/graduate	37.89	38.90	39.99
Household income
≤$50,000	13.21	12.82	11.55
$50,001 – $100,000	19.03	19.64	20.09
≥$100,001	28.89	30.07	30.81
Non-disclosed/Missing^c	38.87	37.48	37.55
Region of residence
Rural	39.55	35.87	40.19
Urban	8.28	8.14	8.65
Metropolitan	52.17	55.99	51.16
Weight status^b
Under/normal weight	68.59	71.30	70.55
Overweight	20.84	18.38	19.61
Obese	7.86	7.58	6.76
Physical activity level
1st Tertile	33.32	27.85	30.94
2nd Tertile	33.32	34.11	32.97
3rd Tertile	33.36	38.04	36.09
Energy-adjusted diet quality index^d
1st Tertile	33.32	30.76	31.09
2nd Tertile	33.32	34.43	34.37
3rd Tertile	33.36	34.81	34.54
Energy-adjusted total dietary vitamin D^d
1st Tertile	33.32	33.73	32.77
2nd Tertile	33.32	31.76	31.64
3rd Tertile	33.36	34.51	35.59

^aResults were weighted to represent provincial estimates of the grade five student population (age: 10–11y) in Alberta
^b<5 % of missing data
^c26.63 % non-disclosed responses (participants were provided option not to disclose their household income) and 12.23 % missing data
^d“Energy adjusted” DQI and dietary vitamin D intake were computed as the residuals from the regression model with total energy intake as the independent variable and absolute DQI or dietary vitamin D intake as the dependent variable as per established criteria [26]

ISSN: 1471-2458