New connection between chronic pain and vitamin D? - Drs. G and M Pearsall

We recently learned how vitamin D can be helpful in saving elderly women, but now in another recent study performed by Dr. Suzan Abou-Raya, a professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Alexandria in Egypt, a link was found between vitamin D and chronic musculoskeletal pain among older adults. Her opinion, based on this study is that physicians should consider oral vitamin D supplementation for patients experiencing chronic pain.

The study compared 265 adults aged 65 years and older with chronic musculoskeletal pain against 200 adults aged 65 years and older without pain. What they found was that there was a significant difference in the average 25-hydroxy vitamin D level between the two groups.  Dr. Abou-Raya reported that, "chronic, multisite, musculoskeletal pain was associated with lower levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, and lower levels of vitamin D correlated with pain severity and poor physical performance." She went on to add that, "sun exposure could be a factor in the low vitamin D levels, with 40% of the pain patients reporting that they received fewer than 15 minutes of sun exposure weekly compared with 11% of the controls, likely due to the limitations on physical activity associated with chronic pain."