Results from a recent study conducted in Turkey and presented during the European League Against Rheumatism Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) showed that patients with fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency were more likely to have poorer functional scores and higher fatigue levels in comparison to patients with fibromyalgia alone or patients deficient in vitamin D without the disease.
In the study, Solmaz D. and colleagues compared 43 patients with fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency with 21 fibromyalgia patients that had adequate vitamin D levels or 37 individuals with only vitamin D deficiency and no fibromyalgia.
The mean age of patients who had fibromyalgia, fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency or isolated vitamin D deficiency was of 45, 47 and 49 years, respectively.
The researchers assessed fatigue on a visual analogue scale (VAS), and patients were evaluated with the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), Symptom Severity Score (SSS), Widespread Pain Index (WPI), and tender points.
The researchers found that the levels of fatigue between the group of participants with only vitamin D deficiency and the group of patients with fibromyalgia alone were identical. However, the results showed that among patients with both fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency the levels of fatigue were higher when compared with the other two groups.
Results from the statistical analysis revealed a negative correlation between fatigue levels and the levels of vitamin D. The results also demonstrated that the BASFI and HAQ scores were higher in patients who had fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency, along with higher WPI and SSS scores in patients with both fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency, in comparison to patients who suffered from fibromyalgia alone.
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