Frequency of vitamin D inadequacy among Saudi males visiting a Rheumatology Outpatient Clinic of a tertiary hospital in Al-Qassim region: Effect of vitamin D supplementation
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejr.2017.04.010
Saudi males (who do not wear concealing clothes which reduce vitamin D levels)
300,000 IU (50,000 IU weekly for 6 weeks) + inconsequential 1,000 daily for next 6 weeks
| Vitamin D | Pain | Chair-rise performance | |
| Before | 14 ng | 7.4 | 94 |
| After | 36 ng | 2.1 | 203 |
Note: Anticipate more benefit if more vitamin D - dose or # of times
See also VitaminDWiki
- Overview Rheumatoid Arthritis and vitamin D
- Early Rheumatoid Arthritis helped by 300,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT June 2017
- Rheumatoid arthritis reduced by 440,000 IU of Vitamin D over 4 months – Oct 2015
- Every patient with rheumatoid arthritis had low vitamin D, severity was proportional to degree of deficiency – June 2014
- Active Rheumatologic disease was 5X more likely with low vitamin D – June 2013
- Rheumatoid Arthritis strongly associated with low vitamin D – meta-analysis April 2016
- Overview Loading of vitamin D
50,000 weekly for 6-8 weeks is a very popular protocol to restore vitamin D levels
Some doctors prescribe a loading dose of 400,000 in 1 to 7 days
More is needed (or alternate type) if person is obese, has other conditions which lower vitamin D levels such as gallbladder, fatty liver, poor gut, smoke, etc.
Personal Note by Henry Lahore
My 95-year-old father-in-law stopped all of his Rheumatoid Arthritis medications after he got a good level of vitamin D.
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Background: Vitamin D inadequacy (deficiency and insufficiency) has become an epidemic with the assumption that women in Arab countries are at a higher risk due to their clothing style of wearing dark colored suits or a veil.
Aim of the work: To determine the frequency of vitamin D inadequacy among young adult and early middle-aged males in Al-Qassim region and to study the effect of vitamin D supplementation.
Patients and methods: Sixty Saudi males visiting Rheumatology Outpatient Clinic of a tertiary hospital in Al-Qassim region were enrolled and evaluated for musculoskeletal state including assessment of chronic diffuse musculoskeletal pains using Numeric Rating Pain Scale (NRPS) and functional evaluation of lower limb proximal muscle power using chair–rise performance test. Serum 25(OH)D was evaluated. Vitamin D supplementation was provided for symptomatic subjects. Follow-up clinical evaluation as well as serum 25(OH)D measurement after 12 weeks vitamin D3 supplementation was performed.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 43.2 ± 6.4 years. 54 (90%) had vitamin D inadequacy; 42 (70%) deficiency and 12 (20%) had insufficiency. Significant increase in baseline serum 25(OH)D (13.92 ± 5.67 ng/ml) after 12 weeks of supplementation (35.94 ± 4.11 ng/ml) with significant decrease in NPRS (7.42 ± 2.12 vs 2.06 ± 2.04) (p < 0.001), as well as significant improvement of functional status scores of chair–rise performance test (93.95 ± 23.56 vs 203.1 ± 58.6 (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Vitamin D inadequacy is a major health problem not only in elderly people or women with in-door residency and dark-colored clothes, but also in Saudi male young adults in Al-Qassim region.