Relationship Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Disease Activity in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Ahvaz, Iran

Abstract

Background and Aims

Previous studies have shown that vitamin D plays an important role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study was designed to investigate the relationship between vitamin D levels and disease activity in IBD patients in Ahvaz, Iran.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted on adult IBD patients referring to the outpatient clinic of gastroenterology at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ahvaz city, in the southwest of Iran. Each patient’s disease activity defined according to Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI) in Crohn’s disease (CD) and Truelove score in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, serum 25[OH]D was measured using the radioimmunoassay method. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as concentration of <20 nmol/L.

Results

Studied subjects were 130 UC and 23 CD patients (62.1% females) with a mean age of 37.5 ± 12.35 years. Vitamin D deficiency was present in 99 (64.7%) IBD patients. Fifty-three patients (34.6%) had active disease who, compared with patients in remission, had more frequent low vitamin D levels (80 vs 56.7%, P = 0.017). In UC patients, disease activity was significantly associated with vitamin D deficiency (P = 0.035), but no such relationship was observed in CD patients (P = 0.74).

Conclusion

Vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with disease activity in IBD, especially in UC patients. Therefore, careful monitoring of vitamin D deficiency in these patients is highly recommended. Prospective cohort studies are also needed to determine the role of vitamin D deficiency and its treatment in the clinical course of IBD.

Keywords:

• inflammatory bowel disease
• Crohn’s disease
• ulcerative colitis
• vitamin D deficiency
• disease activity
• disease severity

Acknowledgments

This paper was extracted from the thesis of Esmat Rasouli, a resident of internal medicine. This work was financially supported by Grant RDC-9715 from the Vice chancellor for Research Affairs of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. The authors would also like to thank Dr Bahman Cheraghian for his valuable comments on statistical analysis of this manuscript.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.