Vitamin D Supplement Use Is Associated with Better Status, Yet Most Biochemical Vitamin D, Iron and Vitamin B12 Deficiency Is Unrecognised and Unsupplemented: A Cross-Sectional Study of a Screened Corporate Workforce in Poland
4 affiliations
- 1Faculty of Medicine, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, 30-705 Kraków, Poland
- 2Housemed S.A., 30-703 Kraków, Poland
- 3Department of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, Wrocław Medical University, 50-368 Wrocław, Poland
- 4Labplus R&D, 50-266 Wrocław, Poland
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Whether self-directed supplement use reaches people who are deficient is unclear. We examined vitamin D, iron and vitamin B12 status and supplement use in a screened workforce. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 793 employees (75.2% women, aged 18 to 67) in Poland sampled from April to June 2026; 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], ferritin and vitamin B12 were measured by automated immunoassay, and supplement use was ascertained from an open inventory. Deficiency was defined as 25(OH)D < 30 ng/mL, ferritin < 30 µg/L and vitamin B12 < 200 pg/mL. Results: Deficiency was common (vitamin D 53.2%; iron 29.4%, 38.3% of women; vitamin B12 3.0%). Vitamin D users reached the target more often than non-users (77.4% versus 38.5%; adjusted odds ratio 5.5, 95% CI 3.7 to 8.3; 1.8 in a sensitivity scenario that reclassified prompted reports as use); with 22 iron and 17 vitamin B12 users, no association could be characterised. Few deficient participants listed the corresponding supplement (vitamin D 9.0%, iron 2.2%, vitamin B12 0%; 32.1% and 9.1% with a prompted item). Among deficient respondents, 70.2%, 69.2% and 86.4% (vitamin D, iron, vitamin B12) reported neither a prior diagnosis nor a supplement, and routine characteristics discriminated deficiency poorly (C-statistic 0.58 for vitamin D, 0.57 for iron within women). Conclusions: Vitamin D supplement use was associated with better status, but most biochemical deficiency occurred in people who reported neither a diagnosis nor a supplement and could not be identified from routine characteristics.
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BibTeX
@article{swadzba2026vitamin,
title = {{Vitamin D Supplement Use Is Associated with Better Status, Yet Most Biochemical Vitamin D, Iron and Vitamin B12 Deficiency Is Unrecognised and Unsupplemented: A Cross-Sectional Study of a Screened Corporate Workforce in Poland}},
author = {Dominik Swadźba and Sebastian Makuch and Siddarth Agrawal},
journal = {Nutrients},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/nu18213611},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3611},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Vitamin D Supplement Use Is Associated with Better Status, Yet Most Biochemical Vitamin D, Iron and Vitamin B12 Deficiency Is Unrecognised and Unsupplemented: A Cross-Sectional Study of a Screened Corporate Workforce in Poland
AU - Dominik Swadźba
AU - Sebastian Makuch
AU - Siddarth Agrawal
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Nutrients
DO - 10.3390/nu18213611
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3611
AB - Background/Objectives: Whether self-directed supplement use reaches people who are deficient is unclear. We examined vitamin D, iron and vitamin B12 status and supplement use in a screened workforce. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 793 employees (75.2% women, aged 18 to 67) in Poland sampled from April to June 2026; 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], ferritin and vitamin B12 were measured by automated immunoassay, and supplement use was ascertained from an open inventory. Deficiency was defined as 25(OH)D < 30 ng/mL, ferritin < 30 µg/L and vitamin B12 < 200 pg/mL. Results: Deficiency was common (vitamin D 53.2%; iron 29.4%, 38.3% of women; vitamin B12 3.0%). Vitamin D users reached the target more often than non-users (77.4% versus 38.5%; adjusted odds ratio 5.5, 95% CI 3.7 to 8.3; 1.8 in a sensitivity scenario that reclassified prompted reports as use); with 22 iron and 17 vitamin B12 users, no association could be characterised. Few deficient participants listed the corresponding supplement (vitamin D 9.0%, iron 2.2%, vitamin B12 0%; 32.1% and 9.1% with a prompted item). Among deficient respondents, 70.2%, 69.2% and 86.4% (vitamin D, iron, vitamin B12) reported neither a prior diagnosis nor a supplement, and routine characteristics discriminated deficiency poorly (C-statistic 0.58 for vitamin D, 0.57 for iron within women). Conclusions: Vitamin D supplement use was associated with better status, but most biochemical deficiency occurred in people who reported neither a diagnosis nor a supplement and could not be identified from routine characteristics.
SN - 2072-6643
ER -