Vitamin D status among patients with chronic low back pain attending a tertiary care hospital: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Low lower back pain (LBP) is one of the maximum commonplace health troubles related to economic losses in the society. Chronic LBP (CLBP, pain for more than 3 months) is not an unusual cause of disability and absence from work from obligation. Etiologically, decreased lower back ache is a multifactorial disease with numerous possible symptoms and causes. Vitamin D plays a critical role in the immune system and bone healing. Despite the fact that Indians receive ample sunshine throughout the year, hypovitaminosis D continues to be a developing problem. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study is to describe the association between vitamin D deficiency and chronic low backache attending OPD of a tertiary care hospital in Andaman and Nicobar Island and to compare the data with that of Mainland India. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted during the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. The primary inclusion criterion for CLBP is defined as self-reported pain in the low back area for more than half of the time in the past 3 months, following the standardized criteria proposed by Dionne et al. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is considered as a marker for the recent status of vitamin D levels in the blood. Results: In our study, we took 664 patients with the mean age of 40.45 ± 15.2 years. We also found that 174 patients were vitamin D-deficient (26.20%). Vitamin D insufficiency was seen in 310 patients (46.69%), and 180 patients were vitamin D-sufficient (27.11%). The mean vitamin D level in females was 28.46 ± 17.12 and that in males was 29.02 ± 13.54. Conclusion: To conclude, the majority of the patients with chronic low backache have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency, and supplementation of vitamin D should be considered.