Socio-Demographic and Knowledge-Related Determinants of Vitamin D Supplementation in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessment of an Educational Intervention.

Vitamin D is a pro-hormone, essential for musculo-skeletal health, normal immune system, and numerous other body functions. Vitamin D deficiency is considered as a risk factor in many conditions, and there is growing evidence of its potential role in the severity of COVID-19 outcomes. However, an alarmingly high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is reported in many regions, and vitamin D supplementation is commonly recommended, particularly during wintertime. To reduce the risk for vitamin D deficiency in the Slovenian population during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted mass media intervention with an educational campaign. The objective of this study was to investigate vitamin D supplementation practices in Slovenia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to determine the effects of the educational intervention on supplementation practices. Two data collections were conducted using an online panel with quota sampling for age, sex, and geographical location. A pre-intervention (

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Copyright © 2021 Žmitek, Hribar, Lavriša, Hristov, Kušar and Pravst.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

IP and KŽ are members of a national workgroup responsible for the development of recommendations for assuring adequate vitamin D status among the Slovenian population. All authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.