The Effect of Vitamin D Deficiency in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

OBJECTIVE

It has been suggested that Vitamin D Deficiency (VDD) worsens lung functions and COPD lowers vitamin D levels, but this has not been proven yet.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study was carried out between January 2014 and September 2015. All the COPD patients with 25 (OH) D3 measurements were included in this study. The patients < 40-year-old, or with a smoking history of less than 10 package-year, or with asthma, bronchiectasis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, cancer, were excluded from the study. Medical records about age, gender, pulmonary function test, body mass index (BMI), annual exacerbations/hospitalizations, modified British Medical Research Council (mMRC) level and serum 25 (OH) D3 were obtained.

RESULTS

The data of 216 (83.8% male) patients were examined in the study. The mean age was 66.88 ± 10.3 years. The mean vitamin D level was 21.1 ± 13.73 ng/mL. Of the patients, 57.9% had VDD, and even 19.9% were in severe VDD. Only 26.4% had adequate vitamin D level. There was a significant in BMI, FEV1, FVC, annual exacerbation and hospitalisations between the patients with vitamin D levels > 20 ng / mL and ≤ 20 ng / mL. Vitamin D level of patients with mMRC level 1 was significantly higher than those with mMRC 2, 3, 4 (respectively P = .03; P = .026; P = .014).

CONCLUSION

In this study, we found that lung function was worse in COPD patients with VDD and VDD increased with increasing severity of COPD.