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Published on: December 9, 2015
Low serum vitamin D levels and recurrent inflammatory spinal cord disease
Maureen A Mealy1, Scott Newsome, Benjamin M Greenberg
1Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, 600 N Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Background:
Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels have been associated with a higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis and increased relapse rates in patients with multiple sclerosis. As a sterol hormone involved in multiple immunologic pathways, vitamin D may play a role in preventing monophasic immune-mediated central nervous system attacks from developing into recurrent disease.
Objective:
To investigate the association between low serum vitamin D levels and recurrent spinal cord disease.
Design, Setting, And Patients:
We performed a retrospective analysis at Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center, Baltimore, Maryland, evaluating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in 77 patients with monophasic and recurrent inflammatory diseases of the spinal cord.
Main Outcome Measure:
Levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
Results:
Vitamin D levels are significantly lower in patients who developed recurrent spinal cord disease, adjusting for season, age, sex, and race.
Conclusions:
This study provides a basis for a prospective trial of measuring 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in these patient populations and assessing the influence of vitamin D supplementation on the frequency of relapses in those with recurrent inflammatory spinal cord disease.
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