The study included 307,900 men and women whose serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were measured between 2008 and 2012. Among them, 21,237 had been diagnosed with asthma. Asthma exacerbations
The study included 307,900 men and women whose serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were measured between 2008 and 2012. Among them, 21,237 had been diagnosed with asthma. Asthma exacerbations were considered to have occurred among subjects who were prescribed oral corticosteroids, who received more than five prescriptions for short acting beta agonists, or who had more than four asthma-related physician visits.
Although vitamin D levels were similar between asthmatics and nonasthmatics, vitamin D deficiency in the asthmatic population was associated with a 25% higher risk of having experienced at least one recent flare-up of the disease in comparison with nondeficient subjects.
“Vitamin D has significant immunomodulatory effects and, as such, was believed to have an effect on asthma — an immunologically mediated disease,” stated lead researcher Ronit Confino-Cohen, of Tel Aviv University. “But most of the existing data regarding vitamin D and asthma came from the pediatric pop