Table 2.
Risk of multiple vitamin deficiencies and/or anemia according to demographic characteristics.
| Characteristic | N | Deficient in 1 * | Deficient in 2 * | Deficient in 3–5 * | Not Deficient | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | SE | % | SE | % | SE | % | SE | ||
| All participants | 13,225 | 23 | 0.78 | 6.3 | 0.49 | 1.7 | 0.18 | 69 | 1.2 |
| Cycle | |||||||||
| 2003–2004 | 6600 | 27 | 0.82 a | 7.2 | 0.64 | 1.9 | 0.29 | 63 | 1.4 a |
| 2005–2006 | 6625 | 19 | 1.1 b | 5.5 | 0.68 | 1.5 | 0.19 | 75 | 1.7 b |
| Sex | |||||||||
| Male | 6506 | 19 a | 1.1 | 4.6 a | 0.39 | 1.1 | 0.20 | 75 a | 1.4 |
| Female | 6719 | 26 b | 0.75 | 8.0 b | 0.64 | 2.3 | 0.29 | 64 b | 1.3 |
| Ethnicity † | |||||||||
| Mexican American | 3195 | 24 a | 1.4 | 5.4 a | 0.61 | 1.2 a | 0.30 | 69 a | 2.1 |
| Non-Hispanic White | 5647 | 20 a | 1.1 | 5.4 a | 0.46 | 1.3 a | 0.19 | 73 a | 1.4 |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 3432 | 36 b | 1.2 | 14 b | 0.81 | 5.1 b | 0.37 | 45 b | 1.7 |
| PIR (%) | |||||||||
| Low PIR, ≤1.85 | 5804 | 27 a | 0.92 | 9.8 a | 0.77 | 2.8 a | 0.27 | 60 a | 1.4 |
| Medium PIR, >1.85 and ≤3.5 | 3224 | 24 a | 0.91 | 6.1 a | 0.80 | 1.8 ab | 0.26 | 68 b | 1.3 |
| High PIR, >3.5 | 3570 | 18 b | 0.93 | 3.8 b | 0.43 | 0.82 b | 0.17 | 77 c | 1.1 |
| Education ‡ | |||||||||
| Less than high school | 2433 | 27 a | 1.1 | 11 a | 0.84 | 2.9 | 0.43 | 59 a | 1.6 |
| High school graduate | 2105 | 26 ab | 1.2 | 8.0 ab | 0.91 | 2.2 | 0.44 | 64 a | 1.5 |
| Some college/college graduate | 4043 | 21 b | 1.0 | 5.0 b | 0.47 | 1.5 | 0.23 | 72 b | 1.3 |
| BMI § | |||||||||
| Underweight | 280 | 23 ab | 2.6 | 10 | 2.4 | 8.4 | 1.7 | 58 ac | 4.1 |
| Normal weight | 2473 | 23 ab | 1.2 | 5.7 | 0.64 | 1.5 ab | 0.25 | 70 ab | 1.6 |
| Overweight | 2949 | 21 a | 0.90 | 5.4 | 0.51 | 0.98 a | 0.19 | 73 b | 1.1 |
| Obese | 2891 | 27 b | 1.3 | 9.4 | 0.88 | 2.8 b | 0.33 | 61 c | 1.8 |
| Pregnancy status | | |||||||||
| Positive | 574 | 33 | 3.2 | 14 | 2.7 | 4.9 | 1.3 | 48 | 4.8 |
| Negative | 4520 | 27 | 0.88 | 7.5 | 0.72 | 2.1 | 0.34 | 63 | 1.3 |
| Breastfeeding status ¶ | |||||||||
| Breastfeeding a child | 100 | 21 | 6.4 ** | 9.2 | 3.3 ** | 3.5 | 3.3 ** | 66 | 8.5 |
| Not breastfeeding | 269 | 35 | 4.7 | 15 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 1.6 ** | 47 | 4.9 |
The overall risk of vitamin deficiency or anemia was investigated according to age, gender, and life stage groups in Table 3. A risk of deficiency/anemia was most frequent in pregnant or breastfeeding women. Data are from NHANES 2003–2006 representative of the U.S. population, aged ≥9 years, based on biochemical indicators of nutrient deficiency. Abbreviations: PIR, poverty income ratio. * Risk of deficiency based on vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, folate, or anemia. Different superscripts represent significant differences within demographical categories, p = 0.0125 using, for simplicity, the Bonferroni correction for five comparisons (the maximum number of sub-groups in the demographics categories included) and alpha = 0.05 for the entire table. † ”Other Hispanic” and “Other race” ethnicity categories not reported due to small sample size. ‡ Education status is restricted to adults aged 20 years and older. § Body mass index (BMI) categories are restricted to adults aged 20 years and older. | Percentages reflect proportion of women of childbearing potential: menstruating girls aged 8–11 and all women aged 12–59 years. ¶ Percentages reflect proportion of women 0 or 1 years postpartum at the time of the interview. ** Relative standard error >30%.