Little published information is available regarding epidemiological data on vitamin D status in the large geographical region of Central Europe (CE). We searched the journal literature with regard to 25(OH)D concentrations among community-dwelling or healthy people living in CE. 25(OH)D concentrations varied by age, season, study sample size, and methodological approach [i.e., 25(OH)D assay used]. Concentrations of 25(OH)D in CE appeared lower than 30 ng/mL, and the magnitude of hypovitaminosis D was similar to that reported in Western Europe. While most of the studies reviewed were cross-sectional studies, a longitudinal study was also included to obtain information on seasonal variability. The longitudinal study reported wintertime 25(OH)D values close to 21-23 ng/mL for all studied age groups, with a significant increase of 25(OH)D in August reaching 42 ng/mL for those aged 0-9 years, but only 21 ng/mL for the elderly aged 80-89 years. The decrease in 25(OH)D with respect to age was attributed to decreased time spent in the sun and decreased vitamin D production efficiency. Based on the literature review on vitamin D status in the CE populations, it can be concluded that 25(OH)vitamin D levels are on average below the 30 ng/mL level.

2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty of Medicine Semmelweis University Budapest 1082 Hungary

Belarusian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education 220013 Minsk Belarus

Cardiology and Rheumatology of Belarusian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education 220013 Minsk Belarus

D F Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology of National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine Kiev 04114 Ukraine

Department of Biochemistry Radioimmunology and Experimental Medicine The Children's Memorial Health Institute Aleja Dzieci Polskich 20 04 730 Warsaw Poland

Department of Laboratory Medicine Medical and Health Science Center University of Debrecen Debrecen 4032 Hungary

Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care The Children's Memorial Health Institute 04 730 Warsaw Poland

Department of Pediatrics and Developmental Disorders Medical University of Bialystok 15 274 Bialystok Poland

Department of Pediatrics Charles University Prague Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove University Hospital Hradec Kralove 500 05 Hradec Czech Republic

Internal Medicine of Gomel Medical University Gomel Belarus

Sunlight Nutrition and Health Research Center San Francisco CA 94164 1603 USA

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Ross AC, Manson JE, Abrams SA, et al. The 2011 report on dietary reference intakes for calcium and vitamin D from the Institute of Medicine: what clinicians need to know. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2011;96(1):53–58. PubMed PMC

Grant WB. Ecological studies of the UVB-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis. Anticancer Research. 2012;32(1):223–236. PubMed

Pludowski P, Holick MF, Pilz S, et al. Vitamin D effects on musculoskeletal health, immunity, autoimmunity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, fertility, pregnancy, dementia and mortality—a review of recent evidence. Autoimmunity Reviews. 2013;12(10):976–989. PubMed

Pludowski P, Karczmarewicz E, Bayer M, et al. Practical guidelines for the supplementation of vitamin D and the treatment of deficits in Central Europe—recommended vitamin D intakes in the general population and groups at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Endokrynologia Polska. 2013;64(4):319–327. PubMed

Palacios C, Gonzalez L. Is vitamin D deficiency a major global public health problem? The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 2013 PubMed PMC

Anderson JL, May HT, Horne BD, et al. Relation of vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular risk factors, disease status, and incident events in a general healthcare population. The American Journal of Cardiology. 2010;106(7):963–968. PubMed

Sabetta JR, DePetrillo P, Cipriani RJ, Smardin J, Burns LA, Landry ML. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d and the incidence of acute viral respiratory tract infections in healthy adults. PLoS ONE. 2010;5(6):p. e11088. PubMed PMC

Harms LR, Burne THJ, Eyles DW, McGrath JJ. Vitamin D and the brain. Best Practice and Research: Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2011;25(4):657–669. PubMed

Hossein-Nezhad A, Holick MF. Vitamin D for health: a global perspective. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2013;88(7):720–755. PubMed PMC

Holick MF, Binkley NC, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, et al. Evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency: an endocrine society clinical practice guideline. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2011;96(7):1911–1930. PubMed

Holick MF, Binkley NC, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, et al. Guidelines for preventing and treating vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency revisited. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2012;97(4):1153–1158. PubMed

Valcour A, Blocki F, Hawkins DM, Rao SD. Effects of age and serum 25-OH-vitamin D on serum parathyroid hormone levels. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2012;97(11):3989–3995. PubMed

Charzewska J, Chlebna-Sokół D, Chybicka A, et al. Recommendations of prophylaxis of vitamin D deficiency in Poland (2009) Medycyna Wieku Rozwojowego. 2010;14(2):218–223. PubMed

Takács I, Benkő I, Toldy E, et al. Hungarian consensus regarding the role of vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of diseases. Orvosi Hetilap. 2012;153:S5–S26. PubMed

Vásárhelyi B, Sátori A, Olajos F, Szabó A, Beko G. Low vitamin D levels among patients at Semmelweis University: retrospective analysis during a one-year period. Orvosi Hetilap. 2011;152(32):1272–1277. PubMed

Dort J, Bayer M, Dortová E, Hadravová V. Vitamin D and other parameters of calcium and phosphate metabolism in healthy term newborns after birth. Osteologicky Bulletin. 2007;12(2):70–73.

Pluta A, Karwacki A, Prószyńska K. Vitamin D status of mothers and newborns in relation to the season of a year. Polski Tygodnik Lekarski. 1987;42:254–256. PubMed

Czech-Kowalska J, Dobrzanska A. Vitamin D status in term newborn infants. Kliniczna Perinatologia i Ginekologia. 2002;36:41–46.

Czech-Kowalska J, Dobrzanska A, Janowska J, et al. Neonatal vitamin D status and calcium-phosphorus homeostasis in the third week of life. Medycyna Wieku Rozwojowego. 2004;8(1):115–124. PubMed

Czech-Kowalska J, Kryskiewicz E, Jaworski M, et al. Mothers and newborns vitamin D status and bone mass according to season—preliminary results. Acta Médica Portuguesa. 2012;25(supplement 2, article 151)

Czech-Kowalska J, Latka-Grot J, Bulsiewicz D, et al. Maternal vitamin D supplementation during lactation—influence on maternal and offspring vitamin D status—randomised control trial—preliminary results. Standardy Medyczne Pediatria. 2012;9(5, article 730)

Czech-Kowalska J, Pludowski P, Dobrzanska A, et al. Impact of vitamin D supplementation on markers of bone mineral metabolism in term infants. Bone. 2012;51(4):781–786. PubMed

Pludowski P, Socha P, Karczmarewicz E, et al. Vitamin D supplementation and status in infants: a prospective cohort observational study. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. 2011;53(1):93–99. PubMed

Pachkaila AS, Rudenka EV, Zhernosek H. Vitamin D status in healthy Belarusian children in accordance with the blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and total 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Standardy Medyczne. 2012;9(5, article 743)

Antal M, Regöly-Mérei A, Biró L, et al. Nutrition, life-style practice, serum vitamin D concentration and bone density in Hungarian adolescents. Acta Alimentaria. 2006;35(1):53–61.

Andersen R, Mølgaard C, Skovgaard LT, et al. Teenage girls and elderly women living in northern Europe have low winter vitamin D status. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2005;59:533–541. PubMed

Hill TR, Cotter AA, Mitchell S, et al. Vitamin D status and its determinants in adolescents from the Northern Ireland Young Hearts 2000 cohort. British Journal of Nutrition. 2008;99(5):1061–1067. PubMed

Snezhitskiy VA, Yankovskaya LV, Povorozniuk VV, et al. Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency among residents of the western region of Belarus suffering from cardiovascular pathology. Standardy Medyczne Pediatria. 2012;9:577–582.

Rudenka E. Vitamin D status among adults living in a Republic of Belarus. Proceedings of the “Vitamin D-Minimum, Maximum, Otimum” Conference; October 2012; Warsaw, Poland.

Vosatkova M, Hoskovcova P, Bílek R. Vitamin D and its metabolites—supply of patients with various endocrine disorders and comparison of analytical methods. Endocrine Regulations. 2007;41(1):19–28. PubMed

Mayer O, Jr., Filipovský J, Seidlerová J, et al. The association between low 25-hydroxyvitamin D and increased aortic stiffness. Journal of Human Hypertension. 2012;26(11):650–655. PubMed

Kull M, Jr., Kallikorm R, Tamm A, Lember M. Seasonal variance of 25-(OH) vitamin D in the general population of Estonia, a Northern European country. BMC Public Health. 2009;9, article 22 PubMed PMC

Virágh E, Horváth D, Lőcsei Z, et al. Vitamin D supply among healthy blood donors in County Vas, Hungary. Orvosi Hetilap. 2012;153(41):1629–1637. PubMed

Holecki M, Zahorska-Markiewicz B, Chudek J, Wiȩcek A. Changes in bone mineral density and bone turnover markers in obese women after short-term weight loss therapy during a 5-year follow-up. Polskie Archiwum Medycyny Wewnetrznej. 2010;120(7-8):248–254. PubMed

Pardej A, Czerw K, Gryboś M, Guzikowski W. Blood serum hydroxyvitamin D concentration in ovarian cancer. Ginekologia i Poloznictwo. 2011;22(4):63–68.

Laskowska-Klita T, Chełchowska M, Ambroszkiewicz J, Kubik P, Leibschang J. The effect of vitamin-mineral supplementation on vitamins D, A (beta-carotene) and E concentration in blood of matched maternal-cord pairs. Przegļd lekarski. 2004;61(7):755–759. PubMed

Bartoszewicz Z, Kondracka A, Krasnodebska M, Niedzwiedzka B, Bednarczuk T. Vitamin D deficiency In pregnant women from Warsaw. Standardy Medyczne. 2012;9(5, article 738)

Masaryk P, Letkovská A, Stecová A, et al. Prevalence of vitamin D in population of healthy premenopausal women of Slovakia with normal bone mineral density. Rheumatologia. 2010;24(2):39–43.

Povoroznyuk VV, Balatska NI, Klymovytsky F, Synenky O, Vayda V. Frequency of vitamin D deficiency amount Ukrainian population. Journal of Musculoskeletal and Neuronal Interactions. 2012;12(2, article 109)

Povoroznyuk VV, Balatska NI. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency among Ukrainian population: age and gender peculiarities. Problem of Osteology. 2012;3:3–6.

Engel P, Fagherazzi G, Boutten A, et al. Serum 25(OH) vitamin D and risk of breast cancer: a nested case-control study from the French E3N cohort. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. 2010;19(9):2341–2350. PubMed

Hyppönen E, Power C. Hypovitaminosis D in British adults at age 45 y: nationwide cohort study of dietary and lifestyle predictors. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2007;85(3):860–868. PubMed

Bhattoa HP, Bettembuk P, Ganacharya S, Balogh A. Prevalence and seasonal variation of hypovitaminosis D and its relationship to bone metabolism in community dwelling postmenopausal Hungarian women. Osteoporosis International. 2004;15(6):447–451. PubMed

Bhattoa HP, Nagy E, More C, et al. Prevalence and seasonal variation of hypovitaminosis D and its relationship to bone metabolism in healthy Hungarian men over 50 years of age: the HunMen Study. Osteoporosis International. 2013;24(1):179–186. PubMed

Napiórkowska L, Budlewski T, Jakubas-Kwiatkowska W, Hamzy V, Gozdowski D, Franek E. Prevalence of low serum vitamin D concentration in an urban population of elderly women in Poland. Polskie Archiwum Medycyny Wewnetrznej. 2009;119(11):699–703. PubMed

Durup D, Jørgensen HL, Christensen J, Schwarz P, Heegaard AM, Lind B. A reverse J-shaped association of all-cause mortality with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in general practice, the CopD Study. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2012;97(8):2644–2652. PubMed

Hollis BW, Johnson D, Hulsey TC, Ebeling M, Wagner CL. Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy: double-blind, randomized clinical trial of safety and effectiveness. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. 2011;26(10):2341–2357. PubMed PMC

Jablonski NG, Chaplin G. Human skin pigmentation as an adaptation to UV radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2010;107(2):8962–8968. PubMed PMC

MacLaughlin J, Holick MF. Aging decreases the capacity of human skin to produce vitamin D3. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 1985;76(4):1536–1538. PubMed PMC

Krzyścin JW, Jarosławski J, Sobolewski PS. A mathematical model for seasonal variability of vitamin D due to solar radiation. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. 2011;105(1):106–112. PubMed

Webb AR, Engelsen O. Calculated ultraviolet exposure levels for a healthy vitamin D status. Photochemistry and Photobiology. 2006;82(6):1697–1703. PubMed

Bakos J, Mikó P. Vitamin D forming effectivenss of ultraviolet radiation from sunlight in different months in Budapest, Hungary. Orvosi Hetilap. 2007;148(7):319–325. PubMed

Silverberg SJ, Fitzpatrick LA, Bilezikian JP. The role of parathyroid hormone and vitamin D in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. In: Marcus R, Feldman D, Kesley J, editors. Osteoporosis. San Diego, Calif, USA: Academic Press; 1996. pp. 716–726.

Holick MF. McCollum award lecture, 1994: vitamin D—new horizons for the 21st century. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1994;60(4):619–630. PubMed

Hollis BW, Horst RL. The assessment of circulating 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D: where we are and where we are going. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 2007;103(3–5):473–476. PubMed PMC

Binkley N, Krueger D, Lensmeyer G. 25-hydroxyvitamin D measurement, 2009: a review for clinicians. Journal of Clinical Densitometry. 2009;12(4):417–427. PubMed

Snellman G, Melhus H, Gedeborg R, et al. Determining vitamin D status: a comparison between commercially available assays. PLoS ONE. 2010;5(7)e11555 PubMed PMC

Carter GD. 25-hydroxyvitamin D: a difficult analyte. Clinical Chemistry. 2012;58(3):486–488. PubMed

Farrell CJL, Martin S, McWhinney B, Straub I, Williams P, Herrmann M. State-of-the-art vitamin D assays: a comparison of automated immunoassays with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methods. Clinical Chemistry. 2012;58(3):531–542. PubMed

Karczmarewicz E, Kryskiewicz E, Skorupa E, Pludowski P. Comparison of two automated serum 25(OH)D assays—experience of pediatric hospital laboratory participating in DEQAS proficiency testing. Postepy Nauk Medycznych. 2011;25(3):193–199.

Coldwell RD, Trafford DJH, Makin HLJ. Specific estimation of 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in plasma by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Clinical Chemistry. 1984;30(7):1193–1198. PubMed

Heijboer AC, Blankenstein MA, Kema IP, Buijs MM. Accuracy of 6 routine 25-hydroxyvitamin D assays: influence of vitamin D binding protein concentration. Clinical Chemistry. 2012;58(3):543–548. PubMed

Hagenau T, Vest R, Gissel TN, et al. Global vitamin D levels in relation to age, gender, skin pigmentation and latitude: an ecologic meta-regression analysis. Osteoporosis International. 2009;20(1):133–140. PubMed

van der Meer IM, Middelkoop BJC, Boeke AJP, Lips P. Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Turkish, Moroccan, Indian and sub-Sahara African populations in Europe and their countries of origin: an overview. Osteoporosis International. 2011;22(4):1009–1021. PubMed PMC

Garland CF, French CB, Baggerly LL, Heaney RP. Vitamin D supplement doses and serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D in the range associated with cancer prevention. Anticancer Research. 2011;31(2):617–622. PubMed

de Flora S, Quaglia A, Bennicelli C, Vercelli M. The epidemiological revolution of the 20th century. FASEB Journal. 2005;19(8):892–897. PubMed

Garland CF, Gorham ED, Mohr SB, Garland FC. Vitamin D for cancer prevention: global perspective. Annals of Epidemiology. 2009;19(7):468–483. PubMed

Grant WB. How strong is the evidence that solar ultraviolet B and vitamin D reduce the risk of cancer? An examination using Hill’s criteria for causality. Dermato-Endocrinology. 2009;1:17–24. PubMed PMC

Moukayed M, Grant WB. Molecular link between vitamin D and cancer prevention. Nutrients. 2013;5(10):3993–4023. PubMed PMC

Wang L, Song Y, Manson JE, et al. Circulating 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and risk of cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. 2012;5(6):819–829. PubMed PMC

Grant WB. An estimate of the global reduction in mortality rates through doubling vitamin D levels. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2011;65(9):1016–1026. PubMed

Vilarrasa N, Maravall J, Estepa A, et al. Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in obese women: their clinical significance and relationship with anthropometric and body composition variables. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation. 2007;30(8):653–658. PubMed