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Prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency in rheumatoid arthritis and associations with disease severity and activity
The Journal of Rheumatology, 10/20/2010
Kerr GS et al. – The purpose of this study was to define the prevalence and associations of 25-OH-D insufficiency/deficiency in a cohort of US veterans with RA. In a predominantly elderly, male RA population, 25-OH-D insufficiency was highly prevalent. With the increasing adverse health outcomes associated with hypovitaminosis D, screening and supplementation, particularly among minority, seropositive patients with RA, should be performed routinely.
Methods- Vitamin D status (25-OH-D) assessed in patients with RA using radioimmunoassay on banked plasma collected at enrollment
- Insufficiency defined as concentrations < 30 ng/ml and deficiency as < 20 ng/ml
- Associations of 25-OH-D insufficiency/deficiency with patient characteristics obtained at enrollment examined using multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, season of enrollment, and race
- Patients (850 men, 76% Caucasian) had mean (SD) age of 64 (SD 11.3) years
- Prevalences of 25-OH-D insufficiency and deficiency 84% and 43%
- After multivariate adjustment, both insufficiency and deficiency more common with anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody positivity and non-Caucasian race, and in absence of vitamin D supplementation
- 25-OH-D deficiency, but not insufficiency, independently associated with higher tender joint counts and highly sensitive CRP levels
