Comparative Epidemiological Study of Vitamin D Levels in Health Screening and Surgical Lumbar Degenerative Disease (LDD) Cohorts: Is LDD Associated With Higher Risk of Vitamin D Deficiency?

Abstract

Study DesignSingle-center retrospective comparative study.ObjectiveWhile vitamin D (VD) levels are known to correlate with outcomes in lumbar degenerative disease (LDD), it remains unclear whether LDD is related to elevated risk of VD deficiency. This study aimed to compare the prevalence and epidemiological characters of VD deficiency between surgical LDD patients and health screening (HS) populations.Methods7300 HS participants and 1147 surgical LDD patients were included. All participants accepted serum VD test. In both HS participants and LDD patients, the epidemiological characteristics and influence factors of VD deficiency were analyzed. Propensity score matching was used to create a matched healthy control group, and the prevalence of VD deficiency was further compared.Results66.9% of HS participants and 42.9% of LDD patients were with VD deficiency. Age, sex, BMI and season were influence factors of VD deficiency in both groups. As age grows, the VD levels increase in young age and decrease in older age after the peak. Female, high BMI and Winter/Spring season were risk factors of VD deficiency. Compared with matched control group, LDD group exhibited statistically higher median VD levels than controls [median (interquartile range), 21.6 (16.3, 27.9) vs 19.3 (15.0, 25.3), <i>P</i> < 0.001]. However, the prevalence of VD deficiency was not significantly different between the matched groups.ConclusionLDD does not appear to be associated with an elevated risk of VD deficiency. Compared with the HS cohort, surgical LDD patients exhibit similar epidemiological patterns of VD levels, including an unusual biphasic relationship with age.