The following is a summary of “Serum Vitamin D and Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study of 349,221 Adults in the UK,” published in the September 2024 issue of Pain by Xie et al.

Chronic musculoskeletal pain is linked with insufficiency and deficiency of Vitamin D. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to explore the linkage between serum vitamin D  and chronic musculoskeletal pain at various body sites, with a broad range of factors.

They investigated data from 349,221 UK Biobank participants collected between 2006 and 2010. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were categorized into 4 groups: <25.0 nmol/L (severe deficiency), 25.0 to 49.9 nmol/L (deficiency), 50.0 to 74.9 nmol/L (insufficiency), and ≥75.0 nmol/L (sufficiency). The study assessed self-reported chronic musculoskeletal pain at various sites, including the neck/shoulder, back, hip, knee, or widespread pain. Potential confounding factors, such as sociodemographic, lifestyle, psychological factors, and medical comorbidities, were identified using directed acyclic graphs.

The results showed the simple models adjusted for age and sex with significant associations between suboptimal vitamin D status and chronic pain at all sites (odds ratios [ORs] ranged from 1.07 to 2.85). The associations were weakened or became insignificant after accounting for all confounding factors (ORs ≤ 1.01) for chronic regional musculoskeletal pain. However, severe vitamin D deficiency showed a positive association with chronic pain even after adjusting for all confounding factors (OR [95% CI]: 1.26 [1.07, 1.49]).

They concluded that vitamin D may not be a key independent determinant of chronic regional musculoskeletal pain.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1526590024004875