BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vitamin D deficiency, a risk factor for osteomalacia and osteoporosis, is a re-emerging health problem globally. While sunlight is an important vitamin D source, previous investigations among women whose culture encourages skin covering have been small, not nationally representative, or both. We investigated serum 25–hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D3) status and factors associated with deficiency in a nationally representative survey of 2013 Jordanian women of reproductive age in Spring 2010.

SUBJECTS/METHODS: We measured 25(OH)D3 concentrations by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and calculated prevalence ratios for deficiency associated with skin covering and other factors.

RESULTS: Results showed 60.3% (95% CI: 57.1–63.4%) deficiency (<12?ng/ml) and 95.7% (95% CI: 94.4–96.8%) insufficiency (<20?ng/ml) among women. Prevalence of deficiency was 1.60 times higher for women who covered with a scarf/hijab (95% CI: 1.06–2.40, P=0.024) and 1.87 times higher for women who wore full cover, or a niqab (95% CI: 1.20–2.93, P=0.006), compared with the women who did not wear a scarf/hijab or niqab. Compared with rural women completing at least secondary education, prevalence of deficiency was 1.30 times higher for urban women of the same education level (95% CI: 1.08–1.57, P=0.006), 1.18 times higher for urban women completing less than secondary education (95% CI: 0.98–1.43, P=0.09), and 0.66 times lower for rural women completing less than secondary education (95% CI: 0.52–0.84, P=0.001).

CONCLUSION: Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency pose significant public health problems in Jordanian women. Prevalence of deficiency is significantly higher among urban women and among women who cover with a scarf/hijab or niqab.