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Association between vitamin D and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis


Hongai Liu
Xianrong Yang
Xiaohui Zhang
Xin Jia

Abstract

Purpose: To undertake a systematic and a meta-analysis in order to determine whether vitamin D is relevant to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in children and adolescents.


Methods: PubMed, Embase, Medline, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched from January 1, 1979 to December 30, 2018. Cross-sectional studies were conducted to compare vitamin D, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI), parathormone (PTH), and calcium between children and adolescents with SLE and healthy children and adolescents. The primary outcomes were the vitamin D level and SLEDAI, whereas the secondary outcomes were vitamin D level, vitamin D deficiency level, PTH, and calcium.


Results: A total of 98 articles were obtained, among which 7 studies met the inclusion criteria. The results indicate that serum vitamin D level in SLE group was lower than that in the healthy group. Patients with SLE were more vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency than the healthy group. However, correlation analysis indicate that vitamin D level was poorly correlated with SLEDAI (r = -0.04). Subgroup analysis of latitude and economic status was conducted. However, no correlation was indicated. PTH level was higher (p = 0.45), but calcium level was lower in patients with SLE than in healthy controls (p = 0.003). The correlation study indicated a poorly negative correlation between vitamin D and calcium (r = -0.09, p = 0.90), and negative correlation between vitamin D and PTH (r = - 0.44, p = 0.26).


Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that serum vitamin D level does not exhibit any correlation with SLEDAI.


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1596-9827
print ISSN: 1596-5996