•  
  •  
 

Subject Area

Rheumatology and Rehabilitation

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objectives This study aims to measure vitamin D serum levels in Egyptian patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and assess its association with neuropathic pain (NP). Patients and methods The present study was conducted on 70 RA patients. NP was evaluated by the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs, visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess the degree of pain, disease activity score (DAS-28) was used to assess activity, and modified health assessment questionnaire (mHAQ) was used to assess quality of life. Serum vitamin D levels were measured for all the patients by ELISA. Results RA patients with NP had significantly lower vitamin D levels as compared with patients without NP (P = 0.001). The mean serum levels were 10.34 ± 3.5 versus 25.71 ± 4.8 for patients with NP and patients without NP, respectively. Patients with NP had a significantly higher VAS score, higher DAS-28 score, and higher mHAQ score as compared with patients without NP. The serum level of vitamin D was inversely correlated with VAS (r=−0.422, P = 0.001), DAS-28 (r=−0.268, P = 0.025), and with mHAQ score in the studied RA patients (r=−0.236, P = 0.049). The serum level of vitamin D was inversely correlated with neuropathic symptoms and signs as assessed by Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (r=−0.268, P = 0.025). Conclusion Our study showed that vitamin D serum level is lower in Egyptian RA patients with NP than those without NP, and was significantly correlated with pain severity.

Download

Share

COinS