Osteoporosis Preventive Lifestyle and Vitamin D Status Among Nursing Students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences

Lifestyle is a dynamic chain, in such a way that choosing an appropriate lifestyle can affect the development or prevention of diseases, including osteoporosis. The current study aimed at determining the osteoporosis preventive lifestyle and vitamin D status among the nursing students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences. The current analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted on 185 nursing students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences selected by stratified sampling method. The study data were collected in two areas: demographic characteristics and different dimensions of lifestyle, including physical activities, nutrition (dietary), and habits by IPAQ (International Physical Activity) and food frequency questionnaire. The final score of dietary diversity ranges between 0 and 10. The higher score indicates the suitability of the dietary diversity in the subjects. If the total amount of consumed energy during physical activities in a week is 0-599, the physical activity score indicates a person with low physical activity, 600-3000 indicates moderate physical activity, and more than 3000 shows an severe physical activity. To measure vitamin D, blood samples were taken and reported as follow: deficient: 0-10 ng/mL, inadequate: 10-30 ng/mL, sufficient: 30-150 ng/mL, and toxic: more than 150 ng/mL. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, 95% confidence interval, and median) and inferential statistics (the Kruskal-Wallis, ANOVA, the Mann-Whitney, and Regression). The results of the current study showed that in the physical activity dimension, 44.9% of the subjects had low physical activity. In terms of diet, the dietary diversity Mean±SD score was 4.60±1.37. Regarding habits, 4.9% of the students used to smoke cigarettes, 30.22% smoked hookah, and only 12.4% of them had enough vitamin D. The amount of vitamin D considering hookah smoking and taking vitamin D supplementation was significant (P=0.0001). Comparing the physical activity score with the vitamin D status, the results showed that the subjects with severe physical activity had higher levels of vitamin D; however, this correlation was not statistically significant (P=0.145) since the Mean±SD vitamin D status in weak physical activity group was 20.69±15.65 ng/mL, and in the intensive physical activity group was 24.06±14.77 ng/mL. The current study results showed that nursing students have an inappropriate condition regarding their lifestyle, nutritional habits, and physical activity, and the level of vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis. It is necessary to plan interventional and educational programs for a healthy lifestyle and appropriate behavioral habits.