TY - JOUR T1 - Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency/Deficiency in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Associations with Disease Severity and Activity JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 53 LP - 59 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.100516 VL - 38 IS - 1 AU - GAIL S. KERR AU - IRAJ SABAHI AU - JOHN S. RICHARDS AU - LIRON CAPLAN AU - GRANT W. CANNON AU - ANDREAS REIMOLD AU - GEOFFREY M. THIELE AU - DANNETTE JOHNSON AU - TED R. MIKULS Y1 - 2011/01/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/38/1/53.abstract N2 - Objective. 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25-OH-D) insufficiency/deficiency is increasingly prevalent and has been associated with many chronic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our purpose was to define the prevalence and associations of 25-OH-D insufficiency/deficiency in a cohort of US veterans with RA. Methods. Vitamin D status (25-OH-D) was assessed in patients with RA using radioimmunoassay on banked plasma collected at enrollment. Insufficiency was defined as concentrations < 30 ng/ml and deficiency as < 20 ng/ml. Associations of 25-OH-D insufficiency/deficiency with patient characteristics obtained at enrollment were examined using multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, season of enrollment, and race. Results. Patients (850 men, 76% Caucasian) had a mean (SD) age of 64 (SD 11.3) years. The prevalences of 25-OH-D insufficiency and deficiency were 84% and 43%, respectively. After multivariate adjustment, both insufficiency and deficiency were more common with anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody positivity and non-Caucasian race, and in the absence of vitamin D supplementation. 25-OH-D deficiency, but not insufficiency, was independently associated with higher tender joint counts and highly sensitive C-reactive protein levels. Conclusion. In a predominantly elderly, male RA population, 25-OH-D insufficiency was highly prevalent. With the increasing adverse health outcomes associated with hypovitaminosis D, screening and supplementation, particularly among minority, seropositive patients with RA, should be performed routinely. ER -