%0 Journal Article %A GAIL S. KERR %A IRAJ SABAHI %A JOHN S. RICHARDS %A LIRON CAPLAN %A GRANT W. CANNON %A ANDREAS REIMOLD %A GEOFFREY M. THIELE %A DANNETTE JOHNSON %A TED R. MIKULS %T Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency/Deficiency in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Associations with Disease Severity and Activity %D 2011 %R 10.3899/jrheum.100516 %J The Journal of Rheumatology %P 53-59 %V 38 %N 1 %X 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. %U https://www.jrheum.org/content/jrheum/38/1/53.full.pdf