A vitamin D deficiency can make inflammatory bowel disease more severe and worsen the quality of life for affected individuals, according to a study presented this week at the 73rd annual scientific meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, refers to a group of conditions, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, marked by chronic inflammation in the intestines, leading to symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea. A number of medications are effective for IBD, but surgical removal of a portion of the intestines is often required. People with IBD are also known to be at increased risk of developing colon cancer.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with IBD, but whether vitamin D deficiency parallels disease severity or adversely impacts quality of life is not known, Dr. Alex Ulitsky and colleagues at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee point out in a meeting abstract.
In their study of 504 IBD patients, roughly half were vitamin D deficient at some point, with 11 percent being severely deficient. Older age and older age at diagnosis were the only factors associated with low vitamin D levels.
"Vitamin D deficiency was not significantly associated with being hospitalized for IBD or having IBD-related surgeries," Ulitsky told Reuters Health.
"However, in both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients, we found that vitamin D deficiency was...associated with having (greater disease activity) compared to normal levels of vitamin D."
Crohn's patients with vitamin D deficiency, but not ulcerative colitis patients, also had worse quality of life when compared to patients who were not vitamin D deficient.
Ulitsky concluded: "In view of recent findings in animal studies that implicate vitamin D as playing an important role in the regulation of the immune system, we feel that our study provides an impetus to...research the role of vitamin D monitoring and supplementation in IBD and its potential as a possible therapeutic agent in these disorders."