Abstract

Objectives To evaluate the 25-OH vitamin D status in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients and to assess the relationship between serum 25-OH vitamin D levels with disease activity and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody levels. Methods In our study, 42 RA patients were selected according to the ACR Criteria and 50 healthy participants were recruited for comparison, as controls. After a detailed medical history and anthropometric evaluation, all participants were subjected to CRP analysis and their Disease Activity Scores (DAS28-CRP) were calculated using DAS calculator. Serum 25-OH vitamin D levels and anti-CCP antibody were measured by commercial ELISA kits. Results We found that the mean 25-OH vitamin D levels of the patients with RA were not different than the controls (64.03 ± 41.36 vs. 58.90 ± 24.27). 45.24% of RA patients had 25-OH vitamin D deficiency as compared to 43.48% of controls. This level was statistically significant between the 25-OH vitamin D deficient RA patients and the 25-OH vitamin D deficient controls (p = 0.013). Our study population consisted of mostly female arthritic patients (about 88%). The mean age of RA patients was 44.62 ± 13.47 years and the mean disease duration was 53.6 months; mean DAS28CRP was 4.9 ± 0.97. The mean age of the healthy controls were 38.55 ± 13.27 years and 38% were female participants. In RA patients, a negative correlation was observed between serum 25-OH vitamin D level and the DAS-28 CRP (r = -0.236, p = 0.038). The anti-CCP antibody levels in patients with disease duration of less than one year is inversely correlated with 25-OH vitamin D (r = -0.77, p = 0.027). 25-OH vitamin D deficiency is reported in elderly people from different parts of the world. The deficiency is also frequent in the younger population. Conclusion We observed 25-OH vitamin D deficiency in our RA population and it correlates inversely with the disease activity score in RA patients and anti-CCP antibody levels in patients with disease duration of less than one year.

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