Those with Ulcerative colitis and low vitamin D were 3.3X more likely to have anemia – Oct 2013

Low levels of vitamin D are common in patients with ileal pouches irrespective of pouch inflammation.

J Crohns Colitis. 2013 Aug;7(7):525-33. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2012.08.006
Khanna R, Wu X, Shen B.
Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Institute, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D (25(OH) D3) levels in pouch patients are not well defined.
AIM: To evaluate the frequency and factors associated with low 25(OH) D3 levels in pouch patients with underlying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

METHODS: A consecutive of 157 pouch patients was identified from our Pouchitis Registry. A sample of 155 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients without IPAA served as controls.

RESULTS: The mean age of the cohort was 37.5 ± 14.2 years, with 86 (54.8%) being female. Low 25(OH)D3 levels (<31 ng/mL) were detected in 69.4% of patients (N=109). 34 (21.7%) of the 157 patients examined were 25(OH)D3 deficient (<20 ng/mL). This was higher than the frequency of vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency in a sample of UC patients without IPAA. Between patients with and without normal 25(OH) D3 levels (>31 ng/mL), no differences were identified in terms of demographic, pouch, and medication variables.

A low hemoglobin level was found to be associated with low 25(OH) D3 levels in both univariate (p=0.02) and multivariate analyses (odds ratio [OR]=3.37; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.41-8.06; p=0.01).
Low levels of 25(OH)D3 was not related to markers of pouch inflammation, in particular there was no relation to pouchitis (OR=1.20; 95% CI: 0.41-3.52; p=0.74).

CONCLUSION:Low 25(OH)D3 level was common in this cohort, irrespective of inflammation of the pouch, possibly suggesting a strategy of routine testing in this population. Anemia was found to be associated with a low 25(OH)D3 level.

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