{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T04:23:11Z","timestamp":1790914991160,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,26]],"date-time":"2024-02-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1708905600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Vitamin D deficiency is the most frequent cause of impaired skeletal growth, and can lead to the development of nutritional rickets. The aim of this study was to evaluate the vitamin D status in a large group of children aged 0\u201318 years. Methods: We collected laboratory data on vitamin D levels from children who underwent blood sampling between 2014 and 2021. Results: We included 14,887 samples. In this group, 17.7% were vitamin D severely deficient (&lt;12 ng\/mL), 25.2% were insufficient (12\u201320 ng\/mL), and another large proportion (28.3%) was borderline (20\u201330 ng\/mL). Sufficient levels (&gt;30 ng\/mL) were met in 28.8% of children. We observed no association between gender and vitamin D status (p = 0.132). Adolescents aged 13\u201318 years (n = 3342) had the highest prevalence of severe vitamin D deficiency (24.9%). Vitamin D levels were higher in summer\/autumn compared to winter\/spring. Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency\/insufficiency has a high prevalence in children, mostly in children above 7 years of age. Many of these children (over 80%) do not meet the 30 ng\/mL sufficiency threshold. It is essential that Belgian Health Authorities are aware of this high prevalence, as the current Belgian recommendation suggests ceasing vitamin D supplementation at the age of six. Additional research is required to investigate the consequences of our findings, and what specific approach is needed to achieve normal vitamin D levels in children aged 0 to 18 years.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu16050657","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,26]],"date-time":"2024-02-26T10:40:17Z","timestamp":1708944017000},"page":"657","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Vitamin D Status in Belgian Children: A Regional Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Louise","family":"Van de Walle","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Development and Regeneration, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1862-8651","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yvan","family":"Vandenplas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KidZ Health Castle, UZ Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1090 Brussels, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9339-5408","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaan","family":"Toelen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Development and Regeneration, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"},{"name":"Department of General Pediatrics, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8846-1650","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anke","family":"Raaijmakers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Nephrology, Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital Randwick, Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital Network, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia"},{"name":"Randwick Clinical Campus, School of Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"153","DOI":"10.1007\/s11154-017-9424-1","article-title":"The vitamin D deficiency pandemic: Approaches for diagnosis, treatment and prevention","volume":"18","author":"Holick","year":"2017","journal-title":"Rev. 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