Vitamin D insufficiency appears to be highly prevalent among people with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), regardless of where they live or the time of year, according to research published in the October issue of Arthritis Care & Research.
Zahi Touma, M.D., of the Centre for Prognosis Studies in the Rheumatic Diseases in Toronto, and colleagues assessed 302 patients with PsA for vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency, taking into consideration season and geographic location.
The researchers found that more than half of the PsA patients had insufficient vitamin D, according to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels, but this did not appear to be influenced by time of year or whether the patient lived in a southern or northern area.
"A high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency among PsA patients was found. There was no seasonal variation in 25(OH)D levels among PsA patients in the southern and northern sites. No association could be established between disease activity and vitamin D level," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial relationships with several pharmaceutical companies.
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