Comparison of Vitamin D Levels in Allergic Patients with and Without Asthma

Abstract

Objective:To determine whether serum vitamin D levels had a relationship with pulmonary function test (PFT) results and serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in allergic patients with and without asthma.Method:The study group was comprised of patients who had positive allergy skin tests with and without asthma (n=31, n=28, respectively) and healthy controls (n=31). The skin allergy test (prick test) and PFT were performed on all of the study groups. Also, the patients’ serum vitamin D and IgE levels were determined. Comparisons among these groups and also subgroups of the patients were investigated in addition to correlation analyses for vitamin D, IgE and PFT results.Results:Seventy percent of the asthma group was found to have abnormal PFT results, while all healthy controls and non-asthmatic patients had normal PFT results (p<0.001). IgE levels were significantly higher in asthma and non-asthma groups compared to the control group (p=0.024). Asthma and non-asthma groups were similar regarding the frequency of multiple allergic factors (p=1.000). In terms of vitamin D levels, the asthma group and the non-asthma group were similar, while the healthy control group was found to have a significantly higher mean vitamin D level than both groups.Conclusion:The results of our study indicate that vitamin D levels are lowered in patients with allergies; however, no association with asthma was determined. Additionally, we found no correlations between vitamin D, IgE and PFT results. The literature on this topic is highly conflicted and there is a requirement for future studies that evaluate vitamin D levels according to covariates.

Keywords

• vitamin d
• asthma
• allergy