Vitamin D levels are low in adult patients with sickle cell disease in Jamaica and West Africa

BMC Hematology

Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of study subjects ^†

	Jamaica		West Africa
	Sickle cell cases	Controls	Sickle cell cases	Controls
Latitude of country of study subjects	18° 15' North	18° 15' North	Nigeria: 10° 00' North	Ghana: 8° 00' North
Longitude of country of study subjects	77° 30' West	77° 30' West	Nigeria: 8° 00' East	Ghana: 2° 00' West
Sample size	20	459	50	497
Number of females (males)	12 (8)	243 (216)	26 (24)	290 (207)
Age (years)	23.7 ± 2.8^b	34.3 ± 6.0^a	23.3 ± 4.4^b	34.3 ± 6.7^a
Weight (kg)	54.0 ± 7.8^c	75.9 ± 16.8	52.4 ± 9.7^c	63.5 ± 11.5
Height (cm)	166.0 ± 7.4^df	169.3 ± 9.2^d	164.1 ± 8.8^ef	162.6 ± 8.2^ef
Body mass index (kg/m²)	19.5 ± 2.5^g	26.7 ± 6.4	19.4 ± 3.0^g	24.1 ± 4.5
Vitamin D (nmol/l)	45.4 ± 16.7^h	72.2 ± 17.8	46.5 ± 12.8^h	75.9 ± 17.2

^†Values are expressed as means ± standard deviations; Values with one or two same superscript letters from ‘a’ to ‘h’ are pairwise non-significantly different (P < 0.05); vitamin D comparison was adjusted for sex, age and body mass index; All controls were sampled from 2010–2011 and sickle cell cases from 2000–2010 (Jamaica) and 2011–2012 (West Africa).

ISSN: 2052-1839