[Low vitamin D levels among patients at Semmelweis University: retrospective analysis during a one-year period]. / Alacsony D-vitamin-szint a Semmelweis Egyetem betegei körében: a központi laboratóriumban egy év alatt meghatározott D-vitamin-szintek retrospektív értékelése.

UNLABELLED: Even in developed countries the prevalence of subjects with suboptimal vitamin D levels is high. The aim of this retrospective data analysis was to evaluate the prevalence of severe and moderate vitamin D deficiencies (defined as vitamin D levels<15 ng/ml and 15-30 ng/ml, respectively) among patients evaluated at Semmelweis University during a period between April, 2009 and March, 2010. METHODS AND RESULTS: The average vitamin D level of 5808 subjects (3936 women and 1872 men) was 25.5 ± 10.9 ng/ml. The prevalence of moderate and severe vitamin D deficiency in whole population was 72% and 12%, respectively. Higher than normal vitamin D levels were measured in 0.8% of subjects. Female gender, older age and winter season were independent risk factors for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D levels were measured repeatedly in 1307 subjects. Interestingly, vitamin D levels measured later were lower compared to those measured at the first time (27.07±13.2 vs. 25.9±9.11 ng/ml, p<0.001). The prevalence of severe and moderate vitamin D deficiency was 8.1 and 71.5 per cent when vitamin D levels were measured at the second time. Of the 110 patients with severe vitamin D deficiency measured repeatedly only 11 patients (10%) presented with normal vitamin D levels at the second time. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that severe and moderate vitamin D deficiencies are common in patients evaluated at Semmelweis University. Repeated measurements of vitamin D levels raise the notion that the efficacy of supplementation used for correction of vitamin D levels is not optimal.

The 3'UTR NFKBIA variant is associated with extensive colitis in Hungarian IBD patients.

PURPOSE: In previous studies the NFKBIA 3'UTR (untranslated region) AA genotype was associated with Crohn's disease (CD), while the NFKB1-94ins/delATTG mutation increased the risk for ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of our study was to investigate these two polymorphisms and patients' response to medical therapy and/or disease phenotype in Hungarian inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. METHODS: NFKBIA 3'UTR- and NFKB1-94ins/delATTG polymorphisms were investigated in 415 unrelated IBD patients (CD: 266 patients, mean age 35.2 +/- 12.1 years, duration 8.7 +/- 7.5 years; UC patients: 149, mean age 44.4 +/- 15.4 years, duration 10.7 +/- 8.9 years) and 149 controls by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Detailed clinical phenotypes were determined by reviewing the medical charts. RESULTS: The NFKBIA 3'UTR and NFKB1-94ins/delATTG genotypes and allele frequencies were not significantly different among IBD and controls. In patients with UC, the 3'UTR GG genotype was associated with extensive colitis (55.3 vs. 29.4%, odds ratio 2.97, 95% confidence interval 1.45-6.08). The presence of variant alleles did not predict response to steroids, infliximab, or need for surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The NFKBIA 3'UTR GG genotype was associated with an increased risk for extensive colitis in Hungarian patients. In contrast, variant alleles did not predict response to medical therapy or need for surgery.