open access
Can vitamin D help in achieving asthma control? Vitamin D ”revisited’’: an updated insight
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Abstract
Asthma — a prolonged respiratory disease related with hyper-responsiveness and increased inflammation of airways; affects
millions peoples worldwide. Vitamin D possess anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Its deficiency (the level less
than 20 ng/mL in the serum) is found to be related to occurrence of pulmonary diseases including bacterial and viral infections and
asthma. Some studies indicate that low levels of vitamin D in the serum are related to reduced lung function and increased airway
inflammation as well as overall poor results in asthmatic patients. Thus, it provides positive relation between vitamin D and asthma.
Increased prevalence of asthma over the past decades causes elevated interest in vitamin D supplementation that is even reported
as a ,,potential therapeutic option’’. Unfortunately, results of clinical trials are inconsistent and do not provide supportive information
about positive role of vitamin D in asthma. Little or even no effect of supplementation of vitamin D in improvement of onset, symptoms
or progression of asthma was found in comprehensive interventional studies in adults, children and pregnant woman. This review
critically summarized the last years evidence of a relation between vitamin D and asthma in adults, children and pregnant women.
Abstract
Asthma — a prolonged respiratory disease related with hyper-responsiveness and increased inflammation of airways; affects
millions peoples worldwide. Vitamin D possess anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Its deficiency (the level less
than 20 ng/mL in the serum) is found to be related to occurrence of pulmonary diseases including bacterial and viral infections and
asthma. Some studies indicate that low levels of vitamin D in the serum are related to reduced lung function and increased airway
inflammation as well as overall poor results in asthmatic patients. Thus, it provides positive relation between vitamin D and asthma.
Increased prevalence of asthma over the past decades causes elevated interest in vitamin D supplementation that is even reported
as a ,,potential therapeutic option’’. Unfortunately, results of clinical trials are inconsistent and do not provide supportive information
about positive role of vitamin D in asthma. Little or even no effect of supplementation of vitamin D in improvement of onset, symptoms
or progression of asthma was found in comprehensive interventional studies in adults, children and pregnant woman. This review
critically summarized the last years evidence of a relation between vitamin D and asthma in adults, children and pregnant women.
Keywords
asthma, vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation
About this articleTitle
Can vitamin D help in achieving asthma control? Vitamin D ”revisited’’: an updated insight
Journal
Advances in Respiratory Medicine
Issue
Article type
Review paper
Pages
103-109
Published online
2018-04-30
DOI
10.5603/ARM.2018.0015
Pubmed
Bibliographic record
Adv Respir Med 2018;86(2):103-109.
Keywords
asthma
vitamin D
vitamin D deficiency
vitamin D supplementation
Authors
Izabela Szymczak
Rafal Pawliczak
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