Winter lupus flares associated with low vitamin D levels – new findings

Guidelines for vitamin D supplements for people with systemic lupus erythematosus may need to be reviewed following a small study that suggests that winter flares could be down to low levels of the essential vitamin.
People with SLE are prone to lack of vitamin D because of their photosensitivity. But vitamin D has beneficial effects not only on bone metabolism but also on the function of the immune system.
Experts measured vitamin D levels in 50 people with SLE in winter and summer during disease remission. And 30 people were evaluated during a flare. A control group of 170 healthy volunteers was recruited. The findings are published in Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology.
People with SLE were found to have lower vitamin D levels than the healthy people in the summer but not in the winter.
During winter, 36 people with SLE were supplemented with vitamin D drops and 14 had no supplements. People on oral drops of vitamin D had significantly higher vitamin D levels than those who took it in table form. Average weekly dosage was higher for oral drops than for tablets.
Winter flares were associated with lower vitamin D levels in comparison with remission during the same season for each patient.
“Current strategies of vitamin D supplementation seem to be not sufficient for reaching an optimal vitamin D status in Italian SLE patients,” the researchers explain. “Vitamin D and calcium tablets were less effective, probably because of lower vitamin D content and poorer compliance.
“Vitamin D insufficiency detected in the wintertime can be either a predisposing factor for flare or the consequence of the flare itself in SLE patients.”

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Image credit: William Warby