14 DAY TRIAL // A new study led by Brent Kinder, MD, University of Cincinnati Health pulmonologist, director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Center at the University, concluded that a deficiency in vitamin D could be linked to the development and severity of certain autoimmune lung diseases, like lupus and type 1 diabetes.
Dr Kinder said that he conducted this research because, along with his team, they “wanted to see if lack of sufficient vitamin D would also be seen in patients who are diagnosed with an autoimmune interstitial lung disease (ILD) and whether it was associated with reduced lung function.”
There are some ILD patients who first discover they have an undifferentiated connective tissue disease, which is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting multiple organ systems, not developed enough for physicians to easily recognize and categorize.
For their study, the researchers assessed 118 patients from the UC ILD Center database for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, that indicate levels of vitamin D in the body.
Sixty seven of the patients had connective tissue disease-related ILD and 51 had other causes of lung fibrosis.
The researchers then looked at the connections between these serum levels and the patients' conditions.
They concluded that overall, people with connective tissue disease-related ILD were more likely to have vitamin D deficiency – 52% vs 20%, and insufficiency – 79% vs 31%, than other forms of ILD.
Also, in this same group of patients, the reduced levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D were strongly linked to reduced lung function.
“These findings suggest that there is a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with ILD, particularly those with connective tissue disease,” said Dr Kinder.
“Therefore, vitamin D may have a role in the development of connective tissue disease-related ILD and patients' worsening lung function.
“One of the next steps is to see if supplementation will improve lung function for these patients.”
The pulmonologist says that if clinical trials confirm that vitamin D supplementation is effective, patients could benefit from a more natural and inexpensive treatment for their condition.
“Vitamin D is known to be a critical dietary factor for bone and skin health,” he adds.
“Now, we're learning that it could potentially be modified as a treatment to improve ILD as opposed to other, more toxic therapies.”
Having an autoimmune disease means that your body produces abnormal cells that turn on it and attack major organs and tissues.
Connective tissue illnesses include lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis, vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren's syndrome.
“ILD is a group of diseases that mainly affect the tissues of the lungs instead of the airways, like asthma and emphysema do.
"It causes scarring of the lungs, is more difficult to diagnosis and treat than other kinds of lung diseases and is often fatal,” explains Kinder.
The study was funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Research Loan Repayment Grant and a K23 award from the NIH, and the findings are being reported in the January 4 edition of the journal Chest.