Prevalence of Low Vitamin D and Disability Among Egyptian Female Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: Vitamin D deficiency was reported to be common in rheumatoid arthritis patients and an association with female sex, disease severity, higher disease activity and worse quality of life was suggested. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of different levels of vitamin D and disability among female patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and to investigate its possible impact on the degree of disability in rheumatoid arthritis. Subjects & Methods: A cross sectional hospital-based survey conducted during the year 2015-2016. Total number of patients included in the study was 160, with a mean age of 44.80 ± 3.69 years. The data was collected through an interview questionnaire from all participants over a period of one month (November 2015). Results: The prevalence of low levels of vitamin D and disability among rheumatoid arthritis patients was 54.4% and 63.7% respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between different levels of vitamin D regarding age and duration of rheumatoid arthritis (P > 0.05). Class IV and III of disability was commonly reported among rheumatoid arthritis patients with a disease duration of more than 5 years and represented 27.3% and 24.5% respectively, and there was statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). There was a significant association between different classes of disability and different levels of vitamin D (χ2 = 15.28, P < 0.05). Conclusion: It appears that low vitamin D is highly prevalent in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and that vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency may be linked to disease impact on functional ability and disability