Abstract
BACKGROUND: Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that plays a key role in maintaining overall health. During pregnancy, the demand for vitamin D increases to support the growing needs of the fetus. Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in pregnant women worldwide. Our study aimed to evaluate the vitamin D deficiency rate among pregnant women in the Republic of North Macedonia, along with influencing factors. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study of randomly selected pregnant women with different body mass indexes among vitamin supplementation users and non-users in two different seasons. RESULTS: A total of 309 pregnant women aged > 18 years were recruited from June 2022 to April 2023, with an average vitamin D concentration of 38.9 (36.6-40.2) nmol/L. During winter, 80.8 % of pregnant women had vitamin D deficiency. CONCLUSIONS: Even though more than 77.3 % of pregnant women consume multivitamins containing vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among pregnant women, especially among obese pregnant women and during the winter months.