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Vitamin D and Calcium Status Among Adolescents with Morbid Obesity Undergoing Bariatric Surgery

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Abstract

Purpose

Obesity is very prevalent among children and adolescents these days. Obese children are at increased risk of vitamin D and other micronutrient deficiencies. This risk is even higher in children and adolescents with morbid obesity who are candidates for bariatric surgery. Although multiple studies have studied the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults undergoing bariatric surgery, studies are limited concerning adolescents in this regard. We aimed to study the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency and calcium status among morbidly obese children and adolescents.

Materials and Methods

A number of 96 adolescents (20 years old and younger) with morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 99% percentile), who were candidates for bariatric surgery, were enrolled in this study (from 2016 to 2018), and their serum vitamin D and calcium levels were measured.

Results

Sixty-four percent of the patients were vitamin D-deficient and 15.7% of them had insufficient levels of serum vitamin D. Only 20.2% of the children had sufficient serum vitamin D levels. Serum calcium levels were within the normal range among all of the patients. There was no significant relationship between age and sex with vitamin D levels.

Conclusion

Vitamin D deficiency is of very high prevalence among adolescents with morbid obesity.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Fahimeh Soheilipour and Negin Mahmoudi Hamidabad have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Minimally Invasive Surgery Research Center, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Aliasghar Children Hospital, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, 1445613113, Tehran, Iran

    Fahimeh Soheilipour

  2. Minimally Invasive Surgery Research Center, Hazrat-e-Rasool Hospital, Iran University of Medical Science, Hemmat EXP., 1445613113, Tehran, Iran

    Negin Mahmoudi Hamidabad

Authors
  1. Fahimeh Soheilipour
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  2. Negin Mahmoudi Hamidabad
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Negin Mahmoudi Hamidabad.

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Ethics Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Key Points

• Vitamin D deficiency is very common in adolescents with severe obesity.

• Calcium level is normal even in low levels of serum vitamin D.

• There is no significant relationship between vitamin D level and sex.

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Soheilipour, F., Hamidabad, N.M. Vitamin D and Calcium Status Among Adolescents with Morbid Obesity Undergoing Bariatric Surgery. OBES SURG 32, 738–741 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-021-05809-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-021-05809-9

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