title: Vitamin D Levels of Anesthesia Personnel, Office Workers and Outdoor Workers in Ankara, Turkey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency is a highly prevalent condition worldwide. Anesthesia providers or support personnel working in operating rooms might be considered at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency. There is a small amount of information about 25(OH)D levels in people who work mainly indoors as an operating room. This study aimed to investigate whether there was a higher vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency rate among anesthesia personnel working indoors when compared with personnel working in an office or outdoors in Ankara, Turkey (39 degrees North, 32 degrees East).
  
  
  METHODS
  This study consisted of 125 volunteer anesthesia personnel and 60 subjects as control groups (30 outdoor workers and 30 office workers). All of the individuals completed a questionnaire. Serum levels of total 25(OH)D were measured by a chemiluminescent immunoassay method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  74.4% of anesthesia personnel and 76.6% of control group 1 (outdoor workers) and 76.6% of control group 2 (office workers) had serum 25(OH)D concentrations < 10 ng/mL. 20.8% of anesthesia personnel and 23.4% of control group 1 and 23.4% of control group 2 had serum 25(OH)D concentrations levels 10 - 20 ng/mL. 4.8% of anesthesia personnel had serum 25(OH)D concentration levels 21 - 30 ng/mL. There was no significant difference in the mean serum 25(OH)D level between the groups (Anesthesia group: 8.98 ± 4.89 ng/mL, Control group 1: 8.18 ± 2.39 ng/mL, Control group 2: 8.37 ± 3.01 ng/mL) (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge the present study is the first study to investigate the comparison of vitamin D levels of anesthesia personnel with outdoor and office workers. Our findings alarmingly emphasize that vitamin D deficiency is very common at the end of winter in Ankara, regardless of being anesthesia personnel in operating room or a worker in office or an outdoor worker. Vitamin D supplementation may be suggested in all groups in Ankara.
authors.forename: Gonul
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Erden
authors.forename: Seyda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Gulfer
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ozturk
authors.forename: Aydin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erden
authors.forename: Duygu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kara
authors.forename: Serhat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isik
authors.forename: Jülide
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ergil
authors.forename: Cagil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vural
authors.forename: A Ercan
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Arzuhal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000776:Anesthesiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D