Outdoor Physical Activity as a Confounder for Vitamin D Status: A Scoping Review Protocol

Background Vitamin D (vitD) has been correlated with a number of health outcomes and disease states; however, these relationships are likely confounded by the role of outdoor physical activity (PA). Currently, there are few studies that consider confounders to vitD status and the potentially spurious relationships between PA and vitD status. Methods This scoping review will employ Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage approach. Publications will be identified through five databases (CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, and SportDISCUS) and reviewed in Covidence. Results The findings are expected to help identify what information is presently available regarding the correlation between outdoor PA and vitD status. The results of this scoping review will help to inform a quantitative analysis of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) All of Us database. Discussion It is unclear what effect outdoor PA may have on the relationship between vitD status and health outcomes and if any portion of this relationship is spurious. This scoping review will initiate an exploration of the relationship between vitD and PA to determine the strength and magnitude of potential confounders. Ultimately, we seek to reassess previous findings and determine the true effect of vitD alone by isolating the effect of outdoor PA.