Vitamin D deficiency increases severity of disease in asthma patients: Study

Saudi Arabia: Vitamin D deficiency or even insufficiency is associated with disease severity in bronchial asthma patients, a recent study in the journal Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics has found. 

The best source of Vitamin D is sunshine. However Foods that provide vitamin D include-Fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon, Foods fortified with vitamin D, like some dairy products, orange juice, soy milk, and cereals, Beef liver, Cheese and Egg yolks.Vitamin D deficiency has been declared a public health problem for both adults and children worldwide

According to the study, serum vitamin D levels were significantly reduced in asthma patients. However, this requires further multicenter, larger-scale clinical investigation.

Previous studies have shown vitamin D to affect innate and adaptive immunity processes that impact treatment, severity, and morbidity of acute asthma episodes. Several forms of vitamin D may help modulate immunity including vitamin D3 (D3), vitamin D2 (D2), 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3).

Considering the above, Sultan S.Al-Thagfan, College of Pharmacy, Taibah University, Al Madinah AlMunawarah Saudi Arabia, and colleagues aimed to assess serum levels of vitamin D derivatives in bronchial asthma patients and their correlation with disease markers.

For this purpose, the researchers enrolled 113 patients. They were divided into two groups -- the first group included 73 asthmatic patients (57 males and 16 females), and the second included 40 healthy adults (31 males and 9 females) as a control group. All patients were evaluated with a careful history and clinical examination, routine laboratory examination, a chest X-ray with a posteroanterior view, and asthma control tests (ACT).

Using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with tandem mass spectrometry, vitamin D serum levels were assessed. Disease markers were assessed and correlated with serum levels of vitamin D forms. Markers included forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1/FVC%, peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory flow25–75% (FEF25–75%), eosinophilic blood count, and total immunoglobulin E (IgE). 

Reference:

The study titled, "Impacts of deficiency in vitamin D derivatives on disease severity in adult bronchial asthma patients," is published in the journal Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

DOI: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1094553921000857