{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T16:52:18Z","timestamp":1769187138042,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,22]],"date-time":"2026-01-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769040000000},"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\/Objectives: Vitamin D is a nutrient involved not only in bone metabolism but also in metabolic functions, and deficiency is common during adolescence. This study aimed to describe the distribution of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels among Korean adolescents and to examine their associations with metabolic syndrome and its individual components. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2022\u20132023 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Adolescents aged 10\u201318 years with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D measurements were included (unweighted N = 880). Weighted analyses were performed by categorizing serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels into quartiles. Associations between vitamin D quartiles and anthropometric and metabolic parameters were examined using complex-sample general linear models, and odds ratios for metabolic syndrome and its individual components according to vitamin D deficiency were estimated using complex-sample logistic regression models. Results: Weighted prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (&lt;20 ng\/mL) was 62.4%, higher in females than males. Higher 25(OH)D quartiles were inversely associated with obesity-related indices, including BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio, after full adjustment (p for trend &lt; 0.05). No significant associations were observed for blood pressure, fasting glucose, or lipid parameters. In dichotomous analyses (&lt;20 vs. \u226520 ng\/mL), vitamin D deficiency was associated with higher odds of waist circumference \u2265 90th percentile (OR 2.59), waist-to-height ratio &gt; 0.5 (OR 2.63), and BMI \u2265 95th percentile (OR 1.89), while metabolic syndrome was not significant. Conclusions: Vitamin D appears to play an important role in metabolic health in adolescents and was particularly associated with general and central obesity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18020360","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T14:58:40Z","timestamp":1769180320000},"page":"360","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Associations Between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Metabolic Syndrome Among Korean Adolescents: Based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2022\u20132023"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7691-6937","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Min Hyung","family":"Cho","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University Hospital, School of Meidicine, Ajou University, 164 World Cup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 16499, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0850-5279","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Young Suk","family":"Shim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University Hospital, School of Meidicine, Ajou University, 164 World Cup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 16499, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9684-4042","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hae Sang","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University Hospital, School of Meidicine, Ajou University, 164 World Cup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 16499, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2062","DOI":"10.1172\/JCI29449","article-title":"Resurrection of vitamin D deficiency and rickets","volume":"116","author":"Holick","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. 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