Vitamin D Deficiency Increases Risk for DFUs
Adults with diabetes and severe vitamin D deficiency are three times more likely to develop a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU than similar patients with sufficient vitamin D levels, according to findings from a meta-analysis published in Nutrition & Diabetes. “Vitamin D has been suggested to play an important role in many chronic diseases, such as diabetes,” Yimin Chai, MD, PhD, professor in the department of orthopedic surgery at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and colleagues wrote. “Low serum vitamin D levels are associated with insulin resistance, impaired beta-cell function and the development of [diabetes]. There is also ongoing interest in the association between lower level of vitamin D and diabetic complications.”
Chai and colleagues analyzed data from five retrospective cohort studies and two prospective cohort studies analyzing the relationship between serum vitamin D level and diabetic foot ulcers in 1,115 patients with a mean age ranging from 50 to 70 years. In four studies that reported on severe vitamin D deficiency, defined as a 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of less than 10 ng/mL, researchers observed severe deficiency in 216 patients with diabetic foot ulcers and in 108 patients with diabetes but without foot ulcers (48.98% vs. 22.78%), for an OR of 3.22 (95% CI, 2.42-4.28).
Source: healio.com via Nutrition & Diabetes [4/5/19] via Dr. Allen Jacobs
