Sleep disorder and nonspecific pain implies low vitamin D, especially if dark skin – March 2013

Nonspecific pain is a marker for hypovitaminosis D in patients undergoing evaluation for sleep disorders: a pilot study

Published Date March 2013 Volume 2013:5 Pages 37 - 42, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S42641
David E McCarty,1 Aronkumar Reddy,1 Quinton Keigley,2 Paul Y Kim,1 Stephen Cohen,2 Andrew A Marino1
1 Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Neurology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center,
2 School of Medicine, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, LA, USA

Background: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to test the hypothesis that serum vitamin D levels are abnormally low in sleep clinic patients admitting to chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain and to assess the associated risk factors. A secondary purpose was to identify a clinical biomarker for vitamin D deficiency.
Methods: We enrolled 153 consecutive patients who admitted to the presence of chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain during a comprehensive sleep evaluation at a specialist sleep medicine clinic within an academic center. Venous blood sampling was performed for determination of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Risk factors for vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D < 20 ng/mL) were identified by odds ratios. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis was performed with 10-fold cross-validation to identify a biomarker for vitamin D deficiency calculated by linear discriminant analysis.

Results: The mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was 19.8 ± 11.1, with 54% of the study population having vitamin D deficiency. This mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was lower than that observed historically in healthy controls, and was either similar or lower than in all but one representative historical cohort formed on the basis of chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. Risk factors for vitamin D deficiency were black ethnicity, age < 60 years, and obesity. These risk factors were identified both in the entire cohort and separately in subgroups with and without obstructive sleep apnea. The biomarker (based on race, age, and body mass index) had a sensitivity and specificity for predicting vitamin D deficiency of 0.73 and 0.74, respectively.

Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency was prevalent in patients with sleep disorders and chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain on evaluation in a sleep medicine clinic. Vitamin D deficiency was reliably estimated in the study population using a biomarker derived from common demographic characteristics.

Those in the study group with dark skins were 50X more likely to have pain

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PDF is attached at the bottom of this page

See also VitaminDWiki

• Poor sleep strongly associated with pain in seniors (both associated with low vitamin D) – March 2015
• Severe Sleep Loss Reduced Immune System – wonder about vitamin D reduction – July 2012
• Sleep disorders cured by 60-80 ng of vitamin D and some B vitamins – March 2013
• Many sleep disorders cured with vitamin D levels of 60 to 80 nanograms – May 2012
• Vitamin D reduced skeletal pain in 85 percent of the patients – Nov 2012
• 150,000 IU vitamin D reduced pain in immigrants – RCT Dec 2012 Dark skin
• RADICAL discussion of vitamin D and Nonspecific Musculoskeletal Pain– Nov 2012
• 7 improvements in lives of veterans with chronic pain with 50,000 IU vitamin D weekly – June 2012
• Sleep Apnea is strongly associated with Fatty Liver Disease PDF is attached at the bottom of this page
• Overview Pain and Vitamin D
• Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D

Items in both categories Sleep and Skin-dark are listed here:

Items in both categories Pain-chronic and Skin-dark are listed here: