The Association Between Serum Vitamin D Levels and Level of Asthma Control Among Adult Asthmatics In Lagos

Introduction: Asthma is of global public health concern due to its increasing prevalence, extensive health care costs, and impact on quality of life. Vitamin D has been suggested to play a role in asthma pathogenesis, severity, and control due to its immune-modulatory and anti-inflammatory effects. This study aims at determining serum Vitamin D status and its relationship with asthma control among adults with asthma attending the asthma clinic in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Participants were asthma patients attending the asthma clinic in Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Non-probability sampling involving consecutive sampling of all patients that met the inclusion criteria was done. Self-assessment of asthma control using Asthma Control Test (ACT) and GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma)-symptom control tools was documented. Spirometry, blood eosinophil count and serum Vitamin D levels were measured. A linear relationship between two numeric variables was assessed using spearman correlation. P value <0.05 was significant. Results: The study was conducted on 90 patients, whose mean age was 48.74±15.5, and 75.6% were females while 24.4% were males. The frequency of Vitamin D status amongst the participants was deficient47 (52.2%), insufficient 9 (10.0%), and sufficient 34 (37.8%). There was no association between the Vitamin D status of patients and their level of asthma control. Discussion and Conclusion: There was a statistically significant relationship between Vitamin D level and the assessed lung function indices (FEV1, FVC, and FEV1%) and no relationship was found between Vitamin D level and patient self-assessed asthma control as well as Vitamin D level and peripheral blood eosinophil count.

Keywords: Serum Vitamin D, Asthma control, Adult, Nigeria.