title: Vitamin D status in healthy Romanian caregivers and risk of respiratory infections.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the vitamin D status during winter of a healthy population of hospital employees and to assess the correlation between vitamin D status and risk of infections in the upper respiratory tract.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and ten healthy volunteers answered a questionnaire on their solar exposure habits and vitamin D intake and delivered one blood sample for quantification of vitamin D level (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration) during December 2007-January 2008. At the end of the winter we screened for the occurrence of respiratory infections and sought associations with vitamin D status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bucharest, Romania, 45°N.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and ten healthy hospital employees.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty per cent of participants were vitamin D deficient (25(OH)D level below 50 nmol/l). The main determinant of serum 25(OH)D was sun exposure during the summer previous to the study (P = 0·02 in multivariate analysis). Intake of vitamin D, BMI and age played no significant role for the level of 25(OH)D. Overall we found a non-significant negative correlation between 25(OH)D level and new cases of infection (Spearman correlation coefficient of -0·12, P = 0·2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vitamin D status is alarmingly poor in active, relatively young women residing in Romania. If our results are reproduced by other investigations, action to improve vitamin D status at the population level is necessary. We were not able to show a statistically significant relationship between vitamin D status and infection risk in our material.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Biology, Oslo University Hospital, Monetebllo, Oslo, Norway. alina.c.porojnicu@rr-research.no
authors.forename: Alina C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Porojnicu
authors.forename: Ruxandra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moroti-Constantinescu
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laslau
authors.forename: Zoya
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lagunova
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dahlback
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hristea
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006282:Health Personnel; D006304:Health Status; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013472:Sunlight; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000097:blood*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D