vitamin d status and distribution in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease versus healthy controls

background: vitamin d has a potential to modulate inflammatory response against noxious particles in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd). the present study was conducted to determine the status of serum vitamin d in copd versus healthy group. methods: the patients presented to the outpatient pulmonary clinic of ayatollah rouhani hospital, babol iran. diagnosis of copd was confirmed based on airflow limitation defined as fev1/fvc ratio <70% and fev1< 80% of predicted. all eligible patients aged ≥ 40 years old entered the study. pulmonary infection, tuberculosis, pleural effusion, congestive heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and embolism, restrictive airway disease, conditions leading changes in vitamin d metabolism and absorption were excluded. serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d (25-ohd) was determined by electrocheminluminescence method and levels <20, 20-29, and ≥30ng/ml were considered as deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency. in statistical analysis, the frequency of serum 25-ohd deficiency and insufficiency in patients were compared regarding age of ≤ 50 or >50 years old. all patients were males and age and sex-matched controls were selected among healthy subjects accompanied copd patients. results: ninety patients and 100 controls with respective mean (±sd) age of 64.8±11.7 and 62.6±11.7 years old (p=0.19) were studied. compared with control, proportions of serum 25-ohd deficiency and insufficiency in patients >50 years were higher and deficiency was lower (61.5% vs 87.5%, p=0.11). conclusion: these findings indicate that a significant proportion of young copd patients have insufficient serum 25-ohd. regarding a positive relationship between 25-ohd and fev1 in copd, these findings highlight serum 25-ohd assessment in copd for recognizing high risk patients.