Table 5 Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in various categories of study population: the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ¹

All subjects

19.6 (2701)

30.4 (2679)

<0.001

Sex

<0.001

   Men

15.5 (964)

31.1 (1304)

   Women

23.6 (1737)

29.8 (1375)

Race-ethnicity

<0.001

   Non-Hispanic white

10.1 (215)

28.5 (648)

   Non-Hispanic black

60.0 (1588)

28.7 (745)

   Mexican American/Hispanic

26.5 (790)

43.1 (1151)

   Other

32.4 (108)

38.0 (135)

Geographical location

<0.001

   Northeast

12.4 (288)

27.5 (284)

   Midwest

11.3 (391)

28.9 (493)

   South

27.1 (1467)

30.4 (1053)

   West

23.5 (555)

35.0 (849)

Urbanization

<0.001

   Urban living

25.1 (1612)

31.6 (1392)

   Rural living

14.2 (1089)

29.2 (1287)

Supplement use ⁵

<0.001

   Yes

15.8 (627)

29.5 (753)

   No

22.8 (1890)

30.1 (1657)

Poverty income ratio ⁶

<0.001

   <1.0 (below poverty line)

28.8 (849)

34.3 (797)

   2.0-<3.0 (low-middle income)

21.2 (745)

29.0 (672)

   3.0-<4.0 (high-middle income)

17.1 (692)

30.7 (725)

   ≥4.0 (high income)

13.9 (192)

27.8 (242)

Body mass index (kg/m²)

<0.001

   Underweight (<18.5)

15.4 (71)

27.6 (98)

   Normal weight (18.5-<25)

16.0 (1128)

28.0 (1271)

   Overweight (25-<30)

20.3 (749)

31.9 (774)

   Obese (≥30)

31.0 (748)

36.3 (525)