Knowledge, awareness and practice of vitamin d among population of qassim region, saudi arabia before and during covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

One billion people globally have been affected by vitamin D deficiency and its associated diseases; therefore, the present study was aimed to estimate the knowledge, awareness and practices of vitamin D in the Qassim region of the adult population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 195 of the general adult population in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia from 15th September 2020 to 25th October 2020. The results revealed that a high percentage of participants are cognizant of vitamin D (93.8%). Also, it appears that there was no association between knowledge and awareness of vitamin D and age, gender, education or social status. Around 82.6% of the participants know the sources of vitamin D and the majority of participants enjoy sun exposure (79%), where the most time exposed to the sun is early in the morning and after 3 pm, reported to at 43.6% and 52.3%, respectively. In addition, about 35% of participants increased their knowledge of vitamin D after the emergence of COVID-19. A high percentage of participants thought that vitamin D raising the body immunity against viral infection or improve immunity, in general, was at 67.7%, that thought that vitamin D prevents or increase resistance to COVID-19. From the foregoing results, it could be concluded that a high level of knowledge and awareness about vitamin D in adults living in the Qassim region and increased knowledge after the emergence of COVID-19 is the most important result of the current study.