Aim of the work: To assess the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations [25(OH)D] and their relationship with parameters of disease activity in upper Egyptian patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Patients and methods: A case-control study was made on 34 patients with RA and 34 healthy control subjects. The following values were assessed for each patient: erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C reactive protein (CRP), rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (Anti-CCP), visual analogue scale of pain (VAS), disease activity score 28 (DAS28), and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations.
Results: Patients with RA had mild to moderate (DAS28 ˂ 5.1) disease activity. The mean serum level of 25(OH)D in patients with RA (24.35±5.66 ng/ml) was significantly lower (P˂ 0.001) than controls (42.46±11.33 ng/ml). Serum 25(OH)D levels did not show correlation with disease duration, ESR, CRP, VASor DAS28 in patients with RA.Serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly correlated with age in RA patients (P˂ 0.01).Serum 25(OH)D levels had no relation to RF or anti-CCP positivity.
Conclusion: Although serum 25(OH)D levels were lower in RA patients of upper Egypt, there was no correlation with disease activity parameters, therefore, serum 25(OH)D concentrations cannot be used to reflect disease activity.