(HealthDay)—Vitamin D deficiency is independently associated with subclinical interstitial lung disease (ILD) and its progression, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Samuel M. Kim, M.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues used data from 6,302 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis who had baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations and computed tomography imaging partial lung fields spanning over 10 years.

The researchers found that 33 percent of participants had replete (≥30 ng/mL), 35 percent intermediate (20 to <30 ng/mL), and 32 percent deficient (<20 ng/mL) 25(OH)D concentrations. Participants with 25(OH)D deficiency had greater adjusted high-attenuation area volume at baseline and increased progression over a median of 4.3 years of follow-up (P < 0.05), compared to participants with replete levels. There was also an association between 25(OH)D deficiency and increased prevalence of interstitial lung abnormalities 10 years later (odds ratio, 1.5).

“Vitamin D deficiency is independently associated with subclinical ILD and its progression, based on both increased high-attenuation areas and interstitial lung abnormalities, in a community-based population,” the authors write. “Further studies are needed to examine whether vitamin D repletion can prevent ILD or slow its progression.”

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