The Relationship between Vitamin D and Disease Activity in Egyptian Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Abstract

heumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease and systemic disorder principally affecting synovial joints. RA patients show fundamental breakdown in self-tolerance and are not able to induce or maintain tolerance to neoantigens, so immune regulation plays a role in RA. The fact that vitamin D has immune regulatory effect implicate a relation between vitamin D and RA patients disease status. So measuring serum level of vitamin D in RA patients help assessing relation between RA disease activity and vitamin D level. So, the aim of this work is to establish a relationship between serum vitamin D level and disease activity in RA patients. The present study included sixty patients with RA and forty age and sex matched healthy volunteers who served as a control group. On comparing serum level of vitamin D of patients group with the control group, the present study showed a statistical significant decrease in the serum level of vitamin D in the study group RA patients compared to the control group. Additionally, there was a significant difference between patients groups with different degree of disease activity (remission, mild, moderate, severe) as regards serum vitamin D level. Also, 25(OH)D values showed a significant negative correlation with RA clinical status in RA patients, suggesting possible effects of vitamin D among other factors on disease activity.