A Comprehensive Assessment in Saudi Arabia

Vitamin D Deficiency: A Comprehensive Assessment in Saudi Arabia

Subject Area: Education / Adult Learning / Biostatistics

Modified: 21st August 2025

Vitamin D deficiency is a major health concern worldwide. Unfortunately, this situation is high is in countries like Saudi Arabia, where exposure to sunlight prevails, however with changing lifestyles, lack of outdoor exposure and dietary factors contributes to vitamin D deficiency as well. Vitamin D is known to play a key role in bone health as well as regulation of calcium-phosphate levels and deficiency leads to a multitude of health problems including it is related to increased risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and immune dysfunction. This research will examine vitamin D deficiency prevalence in Saudi Arabia. And also to look at the relationship of demographic factors, age, sex, lab measures including alkaline phosphatate, parathormone and phosphate.

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Table Of Content

Referencing Tools

S. No

Contents

Page

1

Demographic characteristics of patients

2

2

Area under the curve

3

3

Coordinates of the curve

6

4

Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for CLIA, RIA and HPLC

7

5

Sample coefficient of variation (SCV) values with 95% confidence intervals

7

6

Linear regression analysis

7

7

Two- way ANOVA

7

8

Correlation between Parathormone and alkaline phosphates

7

Demographic characteristics of patients

Variables Total (n=200) p-value
Male Female
Sex 50 (25) 150(75)
Age (years) 48.1±17.0 (14-76) 44.8±15.7 (3-80)     0.209
Chemiluminescent immunoassays 9.2±0.7 (8.3-13.1) 9.6±6.3 (7.9-86.0)     0.610
PO4 3.7±0.6 (2.6-4.9) 4.0±2.9 (1.8-39.0)   0.506
Alkaline Phosphate 101.6±47.8 (55-302) 84.9±30.4 (8.0-208.0)    0.005
Parathromone  (pmol/L) 7.9±3.5 (3.2-19.8) 6.6±4.2 (1.4-43.9)    0.039
25OHD (nmol/L) 13.3±7.2 (2.0-34.6) 14.0±14.0 (3.3-150.0)    0.723
Radioimmunoassay 8.3±1.6 (3.0-12.0) 19.4±13.3 (10.0-150.0)    0.000
HPLC-D3 12.4±4.0 (6.0-25.0) 24.7±14.5 (12.0-150.0)    0.000  
Values are presented as Mean ± SD or n (%); Range in Parenthesis Out of 200 respondents, 75% were female (150) and 25% male (50). The mean ages were 44.8 years for males and 48.1 years for females. The mean CLIA values for males were 9.2, and for females, 9.6. PO4 levels averaged 3.7 in males and 4.0 in females. Alkaline phosphatase (ALKA PHOS) was 101.6 in males and 84.9 in females. The mean parathormone values were 7.9 for males and 6.6 for females. 25OHD by serial calcitriol was 13.3 in males and 14.0 in females. RIA values for 25OHD were 8.3 for males and 19.4 for females. High-pressure liquid chromatography-D3 (HPLC-D3) showed averages of 12.4 for males and 24.7 for females.

The formula for calculating Confidence interval is  

                                           C.I =   Mean ±1.96 SD 

The Average mean of CLIA-RIA is taken in X-axis and difference of CLIA-RIA is in Y-axis. The mean for CLIA-RIA was 20.2 with maximum of 57.0 and minimum of -16.7. We must mean between the maximum and minimum. 

Among the 60 patients suspected of having meningitis, most were female (71.7%) and non-Saudis (73.3%). The most common symptoms at admission were fever (80%), altered mental status (70%), headache (48.3%), neck stiffness (41.7%), seizures (31.7%), vomiting (20%), photophobia (10%), and dizziness (5%) (Figure 2).

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Area under the curve

Test Result Variable(s): Chemiluminescent immunoassays 

Std. Error 

Asymptotic Sig. 

Asymptotic 95% Confidence Interval 

 

Lower Bound 

Upper Bound 

 

.000 

.085 

1.000 

1.000 

 

  1. Under the nonparametric assumption
  2. Null hypothesis: true area = 0.5
The table shows that the asymptotic significance of Chemiluminescent immunoassays is 0.085 which is greater than 0.05 value thus the variable is insignificant

Importance of ROC Curve

Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves are used in medicine to determine cutoff values for clinical tests, such as the 4.0 ng/ml cutoff for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cancer diagnosis. ROC curves help evaluate test accuracy by plotting sensitivity (true positive rate) against 1-specificity (false positive rate). An ideal test has an area under the curve (AUC) of 1.0, indicating 100% accuracy, while a random test has an AUC of 0.5. The ROC curve will help us to determine optimal cutoff values that minimize false positives and false negatives. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (precision) are key metrics derived from the curve. Comparing ROC areas between tests can determine the most accurate method.  

Coordinates of the curve

Coordinates of the Curve
Test Result Variable(s): Chemiluminescent immunoassays
Positive if Greater Than or Equal To Sensitivity 1 – Specificity
6.900 1.000 1.000
8.000 1.000 .995
8.150 1.000 .985
8.250 1.000 .975
8.350 1.000 .955
8.450 1.000 .940
8.540 1.000 .899
8.590 1.000 .894
8.650 1.000 .844
8.750 1.000 .769
8.850 1.000 .714
8.950 1.000 .628
9.050 1.000 .543
9.150 1.000 .442
9.250 1.000 .347
9.350 1.000 .266
9.450 1.000 .221
9.550 1.000 .141
9.650 1.000 .101
9.750 1.000 .070
9.850 1.000 .050
9.950 1.000 .035
10.050 1.000 .030
10.150 1.000 .025
10.300 1.000 .015
11.450 1.000 .010
12.800 1.000 .005
49.550 1.000 .000
87.000 .000 .000
a. The lowest observed cutoff value is the lowest observed test value – 1. The highest cutoff value is the maximum recorded test value increased by 1. All the other cutoff values were averages and are averaged of two consecutive ordered observed test values.

Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for CLIA, RIA and HPLC

Intraclass Correlation (ICC) (95% CI) P-value
Single Measures 0.448 (0.363-0.531) 0.000
Average Measures 0.709 (0.631-0.772) 0.000
Intraclass Correlation (ICC) (95% CI) P-value
CLIA-RIA
Single Measures 0.033 (-0.106-0.171) 0.319
Average Measures                  0.065 (-0.236-0.292) 0.319
CLIA-HPLC
Single Measures 0.022 (-0.117-0.160) 0.379
Average Measures 0.043 (-0.265-0.276) 0.379
RIA-HPLC
Single Measures 0.941 (0.923-0.955) 0.000
Average Measures 0.970 (0.960-0.977) 0.000
 
To estimate the accuracy in each method the Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) for HPLC, RIA and CLIA was carried out with 95% of confidence interval. The RIA-HPLC had substantially better ICC compared to CLIA-RIA and CLIA-HPLC, and CLIA-RIA had better ICC than, CLIA-HPLC.

Sample coefficient of variation (SCV) values with 95% confidence intervals

Variable 

Mean 

SD 

SCV (%)  (95% CI) 

Chemiluminescent immunoassays (CLIA) 

9.5 

5.5 

57.9  (8.7-10.3) 

Radioimmunoassay (RIA) 

16.6 

12.5 

75.3  (14.9-18.4) 

High-pressure liquid chromatography-D3 (HPLC-D3) 

21.7 

13.8 

63.6  (19.7-23.6) 

 The precision was determined by the Sample coefficient of variation (SCV). RIA has a SCV of 75.3% mean of 9.5 and S.D 5.5, HPLC-D3 had a mean of 21.7, SD of 13.8 and SCV of 63.6% and CLIA has a average of 9.5, S.D of 5.5 and SCV of 57.9%.  

Linear regression analysis of the relationship between the absolute differences of CLIA, RIA, and HPLC and their respective means

  Unstandardized Coefficients t P-value 95.0% Confidence Interval 
B Std. Error Lower Bound Upper Bound
(Constant) 10.036 1.492 6.728 .000 7.095 12.978
Mean – CLIA-RIA -1.312 .101 -12.994 .000 -1.511 -1.113
(Constant) 10.080 1.645 6.126 .000 6.835 13.325
Mean – CLIA-HPLC -1.426 .095 -14.984 .000 -1.614 -1.239
(Constant) -3.069 .547 -5.614 .000 -4.148 -1.991
Mean – RIA-HPLC -.103 .024 -4.365 .000 -.150 -.057
Dependent variable: Difference between CLIA, RIA and HPLC

The non uniformity variability is found using linear regression analysis, in this table it is clear that beta coefficient of Mean – CLIA-RIA where the values are beta=-1.312, t=-12.994, are lesser than p<0.05 and the significance is less than alpha of 0.05 value the null hypothesis is rejected. Thus, there is significant association between HPLC and Difference of CLIA, RIA. The beta coefficient Mean CLIA- HPLC values are beta=-1.426, t=-14.984 are lesser than p<0.05 and the significance is less than alpha of 0.05 value the null hypothesis is rejected. Thus there is significant association between RIA and difference of CLIA and HPLC.

Two- way ANOVA

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent Variable: PARATHROMONE
Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Partial Eta Squared
Corrected Model 3175.700 189 16.803 2.997 .108 .991
Intercept 6694.348 1 6694.348 1194.014 .000 .996
AGE 363.371 56 6.489 1.157 .489 .928
SEX 2.402 1 2.402 .429 .542 .079
ALKPHOS 1213.483 72 16.854 3.006 .108 .977
AGE * ALKPHOS 155.494 21 7.404 1.321 .410 .847
Error 28.033 5 5.607      
Total 12572.747 195        
Corrected Total 3203.733 194        
a. R Squared = .991 (Adjusted R Squared = .660)
Since p value is greater than 0.05 for Age (F= 1.157, p=0.489), sex (F=0.429, p= 0.542), ALKPHOS (F=3.006, p=0.108), and for interaction effect of age and ALKPHOS (F=1.321, p= 0.140), the null hypothesis is accepted at 5% level of significance, Hence it is concluded that there is no significant difference between PARATHROMONE with respect to the Age ,Sex, ALKPHOS and Interaction effect of age and ALKPHOS.

Correlation between Parathormone and alkaline phosphates

    PARATHROMONE     ALKA PHOS
PARATHROMONE   r-value 1 .129
p-value   .072
The Pearson correlation analysis shows the linearity between the variables, and the table depicts a positive linear relationship with Alka Phos (r = 0.129, p >0.001) and thus the p values is greater than 0.05 it is stated that there is no relationship between Parathromone and Alka Phos.

Conclusion

Results of this study demonstrate that vitamin D deficiency is at an alarming level in Saudi Arabia, more so among females as evidenced by laboratory results showing differential biomarkers of alkaline phosphatase, parathormone, and phosphate. The correlational results highlight the distinctly different measurement methods (CLIA, RIA, and HPLC) of vitamin D and suggest that some had better accuracy than others. The study failed to demonstrate an significant association between vitamin D status and age, sex, and alkaline phosphatase levels. Overall, our results suggest public health initiatives are needed regarding vitamin D deficiency and improving dietary considerations and sun exposure. A recommendation for future research regarding accurate diagnostic assessments of vitamin D is made.

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