Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Association with Disease Activity in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Albania
TL;DR
Low vitamin D levels are common among Albanian patients with IBD and showed a weak inverse association with disease activity in UC, and whether correcting this deficiency changes the disease course remains to be determined in prospective trials.
Abstract
Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are prone to low vitamin D levels; however, data from Southeast Europe on this topic remain sparse. We measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations in Albanian patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to determine the prevalence of deficiency and its association with clinical disease activity. Methods: We enrolled 96 patients with IBD (82 with ulcerative colitis [UC] and 14 with Crohn’s disease [CD]) and 563 healthy controls at the University Hospital Center Mother Teresa in Tirana, Albania. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (Elecsys Vitamin D total III, Roche Diagnostics). Vitamin D levels were classified as deficient (<10 ng/mL), insufficient (10–29 ng/mL), or sufficient (≥30 ng/mL). Disease activity was scored using the Total Mayo Score (TMS) for UC and the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI) for CD. The analysis was performed using SPSS version 26.0. Results: Patients with IBD had lower mean serum 25(OH)D concentrations than controls (18.0 ± 9.9 vs. 23.8 ± 11.1 ng/mL; p = 0.001). After adjustment for age and sex, vitamin D sufficiency (≥30 ng/mL) remained less common among patients with IBD than among healthy controls (adjusted OR, 0.494; 95% CI, 0.260–0.939; p = 0.031). Only 12 of the 96 IBD patients (12.5%) had sufficient vitamin D levels. Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were observed in 65.6% and 21.9% of patients, respectively. A weak inverse correlation with Total Mayo Score was observed among UC patients with complete disease activity data (r = −0.266, p = 0.044). No such correlation was observed for CDAI in patients with CD. The relationship between vitamin D and CRP was negative but did not reach significance (r = −0.213, p = 0.051). Conclusions: Low vitamin D levels are common among Albanian patients with IBD and showed a weak inverse association with disease activity in UC. Whether correcting this deficiency changes the disease course remains to be determined in prospective trials.