Objectives: Plethora of studies had described a global widespread vitamin D inadequacy. Studies have established that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is unexpectedly high in the Middle East. We aimed to determine the prevalence and the risk factors of vitamin D deficiency in Nazareth-Hospital Employees and Arab Football League.Design: Population-based cross-sectional study was performed on 367 apparently healthy employees and 40 control football players. Serum levels of 25(OH)D, parathyroid hormone, calcium, phosphate and Body mass index were measured in summer. The LIAISON® 25 OH vitamin D assay uses immunoassay (CLIA) technology. Student's t test, Pearson r and one way ANOVA were used.Results: Unexpectedly vitamin D deficiency was diagnosed on the basis of laboratory values in 91% of the hospital employees and in 72.5% of the football players (25(OH)D <30 ng/ml). The frequencies of deficiency (<20 ng /ml), insufficiency (20-30 ng/ml), and sufficiency (>30 ng/ml), were (59%, 32% and 9%) for employees and (25%, 47.5% and 27.5%) for players respectively. PTH and BMI results were 60pg/ml and 26kg/m2 for the employees and 38pg/ ml and 23kg/m2 for the players respectively. Comparing vitamin D, PTH values among Hospital employees versus football players the levels of vitamin D were significantly lower among hospital employees, whereas, the levels of PTH were significantly higher to -2.469) and [(p<0.0001) 95% CI 10.15 to 23.9)], respectively. The hospital employees' correlation between (PTH and vitamin 5 D) and (BMI and vitamin D) were (r = -0.17; 95% CI -0.273 to -0.061, p=0.002) and (r = -0.2; 95% CI -0.3 to -0.09, p<0.001) respectively. Conclusions:Vitamin D deficiency is a global health problem even in sunny climate. Long term strategies to address this issue should include public education, national health policies through food fortification, and vitamin D supplementation. Reappraisal of the range of the vitamin D level worldwide is warranted, and the need for reliable cutoff criteria to describe vitamin D deficiency is required.

BackgroundSex preference is one of the cultural problems of countries in the field of demographic issues. It can increase the number of pregnancies, reduce the interval between births and delay in seeking prenatal care, which can threaten the health of mother, baby, child and family, especially in traditional societies.ObjectivesTo determine the role of ethnicity on sex preference of different ethnicities living in North Khorasan Province (Iran).MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted using a multistage cluster sampling method and a researcher-made questionnaire of reproductive behavior on 1,000 women from 5 ethnicities (Fars, Turk, Kurd, Turkman and Tat) in North Khorasan Province in the summer of 2016. Data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS version 21, using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-test, and logistic regression. A significance level of ≤0.05 was set for examining the study hypotheses.ResultsThe results showed sex preferences among different ethnicities of North Khorasan Province. The highest level of preference for sons was seen in Turkman (66% vs. 23%). Unlike other ethnic groups, Turkman (21%) and Kurdish people (29.7%) were under pressure from the spouse’s family to give birth to sons.ConclusionSex preference, especially among the Turkman ethnic group, which are different in terms of geographical, economic and social conditions, affects the fertility and reproductive behavior of the respondents; and it is necessary to reduce son preference for the health and well-being of children and women.