PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michela Bellocchia
AU  - Monica Masoero
AU  - Arianna Vaudano
AU  - Antonio Ciuffreda
AU  - Andrei Malinovschi
AU  - Caterina Bucca
TI  - Vitamin D, exacerbations and hospitalizations in COPD patients
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P1530
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P1530.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P1530.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - COPD has heavy influence on healthcare costs, due to frequent exacerbations and hospital admissions. Vitamin D is involved in immunity regulation, and its deficiency is associated with increased respiratory infections even in normal subjects. We evaluated the relationship between vitamin D and disease severity, FEV1 decline, exacerbations and hospitalization in COPD patients.Methods- Lung function, comorbidities, nutritional status, FEV1 decline, number of exacerbations and hospitalizations in the previous year, were recorded in 97 COPD patients, 44 men, 62 current smokersResults. GOLD distribution: class 1:17%, class 2:60%, class 3:19%, class 4:3%. Vitamin D deficiency was found in almost all the patients and was severe (<10 ng/ml) in 35. Vitamin D levels were directly related to FEV1/VC% (r=0.23, p=0.02), and inversely related to the number of exacerbations (left figure) and to hospitalization during the previous year (right figure). Patients with severe vitamin D deficiency had an odds ratio of being hospitalized = 4.57 (1.83, 11.4) (p=0.001). Severe vitamin D deficiency was an independent predictor of hospitalization (p=0.001) even after adjusting for gender, age, BMI, smoking, lung function (FEV1/VC) (p=0.01) and comorbidities (p=0.04).Conclusion. Severe vitamin D deficiency is common in COPD patients and increases the risk of frequent exacerbations and hospitalizations. Vitamin D supplementation might reduce healthcare costs of COPD.