Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio), knowing that vitamin D deficiencies have been found to affect the development of certain autoimmune diseases, like lupus and type 1 diabetes, set out to determine whether lack of sufficient vitamin D would also be seen in patients who are diagnosed with an autoimmune interstitial lung disease (ILD). Is the lack associated with reduced lung function?

     "ILD is a group of diseases that mainly affect the tissues of the lungs instead of the airways, as asthma and emphysema do," says Brent Kinder, M.D., health pulmonologist and director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Center at the University of Cincinnati. He adds, "It causes scarring of the lungs, is more difficult to diagnosis and treat than other kinds of lung diseases and is often fatal."

     The researchers evaluated 118 patients from the UC ILD Center database--67 with connective tissue disease-related ILD and 51 with other causes of lung fibrosis--for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, which indicate levels of vitamin D in the body. Then they evaluated associations between these serum levels and the patients' conditions.

     Overall, patients with connective tissue disease-related ILD than other forms of autoimmune ILD were more likely to have vitamin D deficiency (52 percent versus 20 percent) and insufficiency (79 percent versus 31 percent). Among this group, reduced serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were strongly associated with reduced lung function.

     Dr. Kinder says that if these findings are confirmed and vitamin D supplementation is shown to be effective in clinical trials, this may also provide a more natural, inexpensive treatment for the illness.

--Source: Excerpted from "Study shows vitamin D deficiencies may impact onset of autoimmune lung disease," University of Cincinnati, via EurekAlert!, January 4, 2011