Vitamin D Insufficiency Among Professional Basketball Players: A Relationship to Fracture Risk and Athletic Performance
Abstract
Background: Vitamin D is believed to play a role in influencing fracture risk and athletic performance. Insufficiency of vitamin D affects an estimated three-quarters of the United States population. Hypovitaminosis D has also been demonstrated to be quite common among professional basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Purpose: To determine whether a relationship exists between vitamin D levels and fracture risk and athletic performance (as measured by NBA draft status) among elite basketball players. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Data were obtained from the NBA regarding combine participants from 2009 through 2013. This information included vitamin D level, demographic information, fracture history, and NBA draft status. The data were analyzed to determine associations between vitamin D level and fracture risk and NBA draft status. Results: Vitamin D levels were measured for 279 players at the NBA Combine from 2009 through 2013. Vitamin D deficiency (30 ng/mL) were present in only 26.5%. A total of 118 players had a history of at least 1 fracture. Vitamin D level was not predictive of fracture risk. Contrary to our hypothesis, players with a history of stress fracture had a significantly greater mean vitamin D level than those without such history (30.7 vs 25.1 ng/mL; P = .04). A majority (79.6%) of participants were selected in the NBA draft. Players with deficient vitamin D levels had a significantly lower rate of being…
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