March 22, 2021
The Journal of Dermatology
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- In this retrospective study, the mean vitamin D level in 250 patients hospitalized with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) was 16.51 ng/mL (sufficient level is >30 ng/mL). The majority of patients had vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL) and while 20.16% had vitamin D insufficiency (20–30 ng/mL). Patients with vitamin D deficiency demonstrated significantly higher mean International HS Severity Score System (IHS4) values (12.59 vs 3.06, P < .0001) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (6.75 vs 1.39 mg/L, P < .0001) compared with those with vitamin D insufficiency. There was an inverse correlation between vitamin D level and IHS4 score.
- The majority of patients hospitalized for HS were vitamin D deficient and lower vitamin D levels were associated with worse disease severity and higher CRP levels.
Abstract
Vitamin D exerts functions in skin physiology by modulating keratinocyte proliferation and different immunoregulatory processes.1 In several dermatoses, vitamin D correlates to disease severity and is significantly lower if compared to healthy subjects.2 Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by painful suppurating lesions mainly localized in the folds.3 Kelly et al.4 conducted the first study assessing vitamin D status in HS, concluding that 75% of patients had vitamin D levels of less than 50 nmol/L compared to 40% of the general population. Subsequently, Guillet et al.5 described an association between vitamin D deficiency and HS severity, also reporting a significant decrease of the inflammatory nodules in patients supplemented with vitamin D. The same authors found a correlation between the response to HS therapies and increased vitamin D levels upon supplementation. Likewise, Fabbrocini et al.6 found an inverse correlation between vitamin D levels and disease severity in refractory HS and reported the improvement of clinical responsiveness to therapies as directly proportional to the increase of vitamin D level following supplementation. A recent study demonstrated through whole exome sequencing the role of vitamin D metabolism dysfunction in syndromic HS pathogenesis, molecularly reinforcing the clinical observations of the above‐mentioned studies.7
Additional Info
The Journal of Dermatology
25-Hydroxyvitamin D Serum Levels Inversely Correlate to Disease Severity and Serum C-Reactive Protein Levels in Patients With Hidradenitis Suppurativa
J Dermatol 2021 Feb 24;[EPub Ahead of Print], C Moltrasio, PM Tricarico, G Genovese, R Gratton, AV Marzano, S Crovella
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.