| Title: | A cohort study on the effect of vitamin D supplement on chronic musculoskeletal pain in patients with ankylosing spondylitis |
| Journal: | Chinese Journal of Rheumatology |
| Published: | 15 Nov 2025 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.cn141217-20250220-00045 |
Publication 18920
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Abstract
Objective To explore the effect of vitamin D supplement on chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) through a cohort study and provide evidence for optimizing vitamin D supplement strategies in AS management. Methods Based on the large-scale prospective cohort of the UK Biobank, a total of 1 497 middle-aged and older patients diagnosed with AS were included. Patients were categorized into three groups according to their baseline vitamin supplements usage: non-vitamin supplement group ( n =978), vitamin D supplement group ( n =65), and other vitamin supplements group ( n =454). The occurrence of CMP was obtained by baseline pain survey and follow-up data from 2019 - 2020 and 2022 - 2023. A generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) was used to analyze the association between vitamin D supplement and CMP occurrence, with odds ratio ( OR ) and its 95% confidence intervals ( CI ) calculated. To verify robustness of the study findings, propensity score matching was employed to match participants in the vitamin D supplementation group with those in the non-vitamin supplement group and the other vitamin supplements group for sensitivity analysis. Results After adjusting for confounding factors such as demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and co-morbidities, GLMM analysis did not find significant association between vitamin D supplement and the risk of CMP occurrence in AS patients [ OR (95% CI )=0.85(0.48, 1.48), P =0.555]. However, GLMM analysis indicated that male AS patients had a lower likelihood of developing CMP compared to female patients [ OR (95% CI )=0.69(0.56, 0.86), P <0.001]. Additionally, current smoking [ OR (95% CI )=1.46(1.06, 2.03), P =0.022] and poorer overall health status-categorized as general [ OR (95% CI )=2.32(1.85, 2.90)] or poor [ OR (95% CI )=2.31(1.68, 3.18), P <0.001] were associated with an increased risk of CMP occurrence. In the sensitivity analysis, no significant association was observed between vitamin D supplement and CMP. Conclusion Vitamin D supplement does not reduce the risk of CMP occurrence in middle-aged and old AS patients. However, female, smoking, and poor overall health status are identified as risk factors for CMP in AS patients. Future research should focus on large-scale real-world studies, particularly in younger AS populations, to further investigate the relationship between vitamin D supplement and CMP, thereby providing more targeted intervention strategies.</p>
5 Authors
- 彭元直
- 赵书含
- 殷欣悦
- 李硕隆
- 丁国永
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