Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Aug 26:23971983241265583.
doi: 10.1177/23971983241265583. Online ahead of print.

Vitamin D serum levels in patients with systemic sclerosis and very early systemic sclerosis (VEDOSS)

Giovanna Cuomo  1 , Maria Consiglia Trotta  2 , Giovanbattista D'Amico  3 , Claudio Di Vico  1 , Carlo Iandoli  1 , Danilo Perretta  1 , Caterina Naclerio  4 , Tiziana Nava  5   6 , Domenico Cozzolino  1 , Ciro Romano  7
Affiliations

Vitamin D serum levels in patients with systemic sclerosis and very early systemic sclerosis (VEDOSS)

Giovanna Cuomo et al. J Scleroderma Relat Disord. .

Abstract

Introduction: Vitamin D may be capable of interfering with the pathophysiological pathways involved in systemic sclerosis, by virtue of its well-known immunomodulatory effects. In this study, we aimed at evaluating the differences and the correlations between vitamin D levels in systemic sclerosis patients versus patients with very early systemic sclerosis.

Methods: One hundred twenty-six patients (80 definite systemic sclerosis and 46 very early systemic sclerosis) were included in this case control study. Anthropometric, clinical, biochemical, and instrumental data were recorded and correlated with serum vitamin D levels.

Results: Briefly, systemic sclerosis patients and very early systemic sclerosis subjects significantly differed for telangectasias, scleredema, autoantibody profile, and videocapillaroscopic pattern. In addition, the mean vitamin D levels were significantly lower in systemic sclerosis patients when compared to those of very early systemic sclerosis subjects. When systemic sclerosis patients were divided into two groups, that is, those with ⩽20 ng/ml versus >20 ng/ml vitamin D serum levels, significantly higher serum vitamin D levels were observed in patients with a lesser skin and vascular involvement. With regard to very early systemic sclerosis subjects, who exhibited baseline satisfactory vitamin D levels, only the autoantibody profile was found to correlate with vitamin D serum levels.

Conclusion: Vitamin D serum levels were found to be generally satisfactory in very early systemic sclerosis subjects, but they were reduced in systemic sclerosis patients. Advanced skin and microvascular involvement were found to predispose to hypovitaminosis D. Due to the well-documented immunomodulatory properties of vitamin D, studies are needed to determine whether vitamin D supplementation may prevent the subsequent evolution of very early systemic sclerosis into definite systemic sclerosis.

Keywords: Systemic sclerosis; VEDOSS; very early systemic sclerosis; vitamin D.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Differences in vitamin D serum levels between SSc and VEDOSS patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Volkmann ER, Andréasson K, Smith V. Systemic sclerosis. Lancet 2023; 401: 304–318. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cutolo M, Soldano S, Sulli A, et al.. Influence of seasonal vitamin D changes on clinical manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis. Front Immunol 2021; 12: 683665. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Umar M, Sastry KS, Chouchane AI. Role of vitamin D beyond the skeletal function: a review of the molecular and clinical studies. Int J Mol Sci 2018; 19: 1618. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chang SW, Lee HC. Vitamin D and health—the missing vitamin in humans. Pediatr Neonatol 2019; 60(3): 237–244. - PubMed
    1. Vacca A, Cormier C, Piras M, et al.. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in 2 independent cohorts of patients with systemic sclerosis. J Rheumatol 2009; 36(9): 1924–1929. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources