Benefits of Vitamin D Replacement Tx for Chronic Widespread Pain

HealthDay News — For patients with nonspecific chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CWP) and vitamin D deficiency, treatment with vitamin D replacement results in improvements in symptoms, according to a study published online November 11 in the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases.¹

Ramazan Yilmaz, from the Yoncali Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Hospital in Kutahya, Turkey, and colleagues examined the effect of vitamin D replacement treatment on musculoskeletal symptoms and quality of life in 58 patients with CWP, including fibromyalgia. Participants had nonspecific CWP and vitamin D deficiency and were given replacement treatments of 50,000 IU/week oral vitamin D3 for 3 months.

The researchers found that after replacement treatment there was an increase in 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels from 10.6 ± 5.1 ng/mL to 46.5 ± 24.0 ng/mL (P <.001). After treatment, there were marked decreases in visual analog scale (VAS)-pain, VAS-asthenia, severity of waking unrefreshed, tender point count, and Beck Depression Inventory, and an evident increase in subgroups of Short Form-36 quality of life scale (P <.001). The number of patients with fibromyalgia decreased from 30 before treatment to 20 after treatment (P=.013). Most patients (85%) reported satisfaction with treatment.

“Vitamin D replacement treatment in patients with nonspecific CWP has provided improvements in musculoskeletal symptoms, level of depression and quality of life of patients,” the authors write. “Patients with CWP should be investigated for vitamin D deficiency.”

Reference

1. Yilmaz R, Salli A, Cingoz HT, Kucuksen S, Ugurlu H. Efficacy of vitamin D replacement therapy on patients with chronic nonspecific widespread musculoskeletal pain with vitamin D deficiency. Int J Rheum Dis. 2016. DOI: 10.1111/1756-185X.12960.