The Relationship Between Vitamin D and Asthma Exacerbation

Abstract

Asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory condition that affects millions of people worldwide. It presents with reversible bronchoconstriction that makes it difficult for patients to breathe. Asthma flare-ups have several triggers, but the symptoms are similar, including wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Severe asthma exacerbation is described as symptomatic asthma that is unresponsive to inhaled asthma medications and is only responsive to steroids in oral or intravenous forms. Asthma-related deaths occur during episodes of asthma exacerbation.Vitamin D is a steroid-derived vitamin produced by the body and found in some foods. Administration of doses of vitamin D can also help maintain an adequate level of the vitamin. Vitamin D plays a vital role in regulating the level of calcium in the body and bone remodeling processes. It also has an immunomodulatory effect on innate and adaptive immunity within the body and that partially explains its links to inflammation-induced epithelial changes seen in asthma.We conducted this literature review by selecting articles from PubMed and Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Plus databases to investigate the relationship between vitamin D level and asthma exacerbation. From the studies, we found that asthmatic patients have low vitamin D levels during an asthma exacerbation. However, supplementing vitamin D may not reduce the rates of asthma exacerbation except in adult asthmatic patients with low levels of vitamin D.

Asthma and Vitamin D Deficiency: Occurrence, Immune Mechanisms, and New Perspectives

“…Recent studies have reported an association between vitamin D deficiency and increased risk of asthma occurrence and exacerbation [2,[9][10][11]. Furthermore, in line with these findings, a study provided evidence about the association between vitamin D levels and the presence of asthma markers (i.e.…”

“…Several studies have failed to find significant changes in the asthma status of patients treated with vitamin D supplementation [2,11,15]. However, there were some limitations affecting the results, including the rate of severe asthma exacerbations in the placebo group being even lower than expectation [16].…”

Systematic review and meta-analysis: Associations of vitamin D with pulmonary function in children and young people with cystic fibrosis

“…Nonetheless, pulmonary exacerbations significantly influenced the relationship of 25OHD and FEV 1 % predicted [58]. Such findings that have been replicated in other populations diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease [59] and Asthma [60].…”

The Role of Maternal Vitamin D Deficiency in Offspring Obesity: A Narrative Review

“…VD is an essential regulator of phosphate and calcium homeostasis and plays a key role in bone metabolism [ 19 ]. Additionally, VD has many extraskeletal benefits and its deficiency has been reported to be related to a wide range of diseases, such as asthma [ 20 ], cancers [ 21 ], type 2 diabetes [ 22 ], cardiovascular diseases [ 23 ], infections [ 24 , 25 ], and autoimmune diseases [ 25 , 26 ]. A systematic review stated that VD level is inversely correlated with the percentage of fat mass [ 27 ].…”