Associations between adiposity measures and 25‐hydroxyvitamin D among police officers

Abstract

Objective: Studies show that serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), a biomarker for vitamin D status, are lower in persons with higher adiposity levels and that police officers have been found to have a high prevalence of obesity. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between several adiposity measures and 25(OH)D, and also compare those measures to determine the best one that predicts insufficiency of 25(OH)D (<20 ng/mL) among police officers in the Northeast area of the United States. Methods: Participants were 281 police officers (71.5% men) from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress Study (2011–2016). Associations of body mass index (BMI), abdominal height (AbHt), waist circumference (WC), WC-to-height ratio (WCHtR), percent body fat (PBF), and fat mass index (FMI) with 25(OH)D were obtained using multiple regression models after adjustment for age, race/ethnicity, season, multivitamin supplement use, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The area under the curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the predictive ability of each adiposity measure to identify insufficient 25(OH)D concentrations. Results: The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30) was 50.7% in men and 21.3% in women. Mean levels of 25(OH)D were 32.4 ng/mL in men and 34.4 ng/mL in women. After adjustment for covariates, PBF and FMI among men were inversely associated with 25(OH)D: PBF (β ± SE = −2.40 ± 1.01, P = .018); FMI (−2.21 ± 0.93, .018). Among women, no adiposity measure was associated with 25(OH)D. PBF was the best predictor of insufficient 25(OH)D concentrations regardless of gender (AUC = 0.878). Conclusion: Adiposity measures were inversely associated with 25(OH)D, but differed between female and male officers.

Despite Low Obesity Rates, Body Mass Index Under-Estimated Obesity among Russian Police Officers When Compared to Body Fat Percentage

“…This finding is in contrast to research from Quebec, Canada where 21.1% of male and only 7.3% of female police officers were obese according to BMI [23]. Additionally, research from New York, USA, found 50.7% of male and only 21.3% of female police officers were obese according to BMI [10]. It may be that additional lifestyle factors not measured in our study accounted for the different prevalence rates by sex [8].…”

“…As there are multiple ways to measure obesity, waist circumference (WC) is a recommended measure of central adiposity (i.e., excess fat tissue) to help indicate increased cardiovascular disease risk [9]. WC has been compared to both BMI and BF% among US police officers [10], female firefighters [11], and military personnel [12], as well as Russian firefighters [13]. All three measures (i.e., BMI, BF%, and WC) have been highly correlated in US police officers [10].…”

Correlation of Vitamin D with Inflammatory Cytokines, Atherosclerotic Parameters, and Lifestyle Factors in the Setting of Heart Failure: A 12-Month Follow-Up Study

“…The relationship between vitamin D and anthropometric parameters in the setting of HF has not been thoroughly explored. In the general population, there seems to be a consensus of a negative correlation between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and BMI, WC, and BF% [33,61,62,63,64], mainly attributed to sequestration of vitamin D by adipocytes. However, controversy has been found in patients with HF, as no correlation has been reported in this context between serum 25(OH)D levels and body weight, BMI, mid-arm muscle circumference [65], arm lean mass, leg lean mass, and grip strength (rather related to muscle mass and strength) [66].…”

Association among 25‐hydroxyvitamin D levels, hypertriglyceridemic‐waist phenotype, and cardiometabolic markers in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus from regions with high solar incidence

“…These findings can be attributed to the higher concentration of body fat in women, influenced by the increase in age (Tanwi et al, 2019), parity (LisowskI et al, 2019, and the action of female hormones (Suliga et al, 2016). In addition, one study found that % body fat seems to be a better predictor of lower 25(OH)D concentrations, regardless of gender (Gu et al, 2019). Several studies have observed an association between the HTW phenotype and metabolic changes (Ding et al, 2019;Muñoz-Garach et al, 2019;Ren et al, 2016).…”