Is the Vitamin D Level of Anesthesia Workers in the Operating Room at a Critical Level?

Project no. 31971 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2024

Summary

Introduction / Aim: Vitamin D (Vit D) is a critical regulator of calcium and bonehomeostasis. The main sources of Vit D are sunlight exposure, diet, and Vit D supplements.Due to the working conditions of anesthesia workers in the operating room, they have verylimited exposure to sunlight during their working hours. Our study aims to assess the Vit Dlevels and associated parameters of anesthesia workers employed in the operating rooms ofEge University Faculty of Medicine Hospital. Although there are limited studies on this subject, there are not enough studies on this subject in our country. We believe that this study will determine whether there is vitamin D deficiency in anesthesia workers working at Ege University Faculty of Medicine due to their working conditions, how calcium values are in anesthesia workers with vitamin D deficiency since vitamin D plays a role in the calcium absorption mechanism, and if such a situation exists, it will create awareness in taking precautions in this regard for the health of the workers (changing diet, supplementary vitamin, increasing environmental exposure, etc.). If vitamin D deficiency is detected in anesthesia workers working at Ege University Faculty of Medicine and hypocalcemia in vitamin D deficiency due to the role of vitamin D in calcium absorption, this study will create awareness in taking precautions to eliminate this negative situation in anesthesia workers.Materials and Methods: We determined our research sample as 100 people. After the approval of the Ethics Committee, a total of 96 anesthesiologists and anesthesia technicians working in the operating room at Ege University in May 2024 were included in the study. People with diseases that cause vitamin D absorption disorders, skeletal and muscular system diseases, liver, kidney and skin diseases, and those using drugs that interact with vitamin D metabolism, pregnant and breastfeeding women were not included in our study. The coverage in our study was 96%. After the demographic data of the participants included in the study were recorded and they were asked to fill out the questionnaire, blood samples were taken to measure their vitamin D levels.Hypothesis: H0: Vitamin D levels are normal in anesthesia workersH1: Anesthesia workers have low vitamin D levelsH2: Calcium levels are normal in anesthesia workers with low vitamin D levelsH3: Calcium levels are low in anesthesia workers with low vitamin D levelsStatistical evaluation: Data analysis was performed by EUTF Biostatistics Department using SPSS 25 program. The significance level was determined as p=0.05 in all analyses.In the study, numerical data were summarized with mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum values; categorical data were presented with frequency and percentage rates.Chi-square test was performed by creating cross tables for categorical variables. Compliance with normal distribution was checked with Kolmogorov-Smirnov (50<n) and Shapiro-Wilk (n<50) tests for numerical variables. T-test was used for variables showing normal distribution, and Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis variance analysis were used for variables not showing normal distribution. The relationship between vitamin D and calcium was analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test.Results:The average Vit D level of all participants was 25.24 ng/mL. Those who took Vit Dsupplements had an average level of 33.4±14.8 ng/mL, while those who did not takesupplements had an average level of 14.9±2.6 ng/mL (p<0.00). It was observed that 96.6% ofthose who took Vit D supplements and 37.3% of those who did not had normal Vit D levels(p<0.00). In the evaluations, when we compared those with normal and above vitamin D levels with those below normal, we found that this difference between both groups was related to vitamin D supplementation. We grouped the working order as those who only worked during the day and those who worked on shifts during the day and night. Of the 43 people with vitamin D deficiency, 6 worked only during the day, while 37 worked on shifts. Of the 53 people without vitamin D deficiency, 22 worked only during the day, while 31 worked during the day and night. And it was seen that there was a relationship between working order and vitamin D level. It was seen that those with below normal (< 20 ng/ml) vitamin D levels had 51.168 weekly working hours, while those with normal ( 20 ng/ml) and above levels had 47.668 (p<0.03). The mean calcium value of the participants in the study was found to be 9.43, the lowest calcium value was 7.6, and the highest calcium value was 10.3. No relationship was found between calcium levels and vitamin D levels, nor was there a relationship between nutrition, being a technician or doctor, sports activity, etc. and vitamin D levels.Conclusion: Our findings support the notion that long working hours can lead to Vit Ddeficiency, despite the relatively high sunlight exposure in our region. To normalize the Vit Dlevels of anesthesia workers, regulating their working hours or ensuring they take Vit Dsupplements would be an appropriate approach.

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