Blackmores Institute

In a retrospective study of 232 women with a mean age of 65 years, the study examined prevalences of severe vitamin D deficiency (&lt;10ng/mL) and normal status (&gt;30ng/mL) and found that the severely deficient group had higher visual analogous scores (VAS) for lower back pain (P=0.002) and lower bone mineral density T scores (P=0.004) than other groups.
 
 “Lower 25(OH)D concentration (&lt;10ng/mL) was significantly associated with more severe lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) in the lumbosacral region (L4-S1, L1-S1, P &lt; 0.05), but less so in the upper lumbar region. There was an inverse relationship between vitamin D concentration and the severity of disc degeneration (L2-L3, L4-S1, L1-S1, P &lt; 0.05). After adjustment for confounding factors, smoking, vitamin D deficiency, lack of vitamin D supplementation, high body mass index, and low bone mineral density T score were associated with higher incidence of moderate-to-severe pain in postmenopausal women (P &lt; 0.05),” the authors said.
 
 According to the study, older women are more likely to have severe LDD and lower back pain (LBP) than their male peers which may be due to an effect of oestrogen on disc degeneration. In addition, the study noted that adequate vitamin D status assists in prevention of bone diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, yet hypovitaminosis D is also common in postmenopausal women.
 
 “Many studies have shown that hypovitaminosis D is highly prevalent worldwide and women undergoing lumbar spinal surgery are more likely to be at risk of hypovitaminosis D than men. Therefore, it is clinically important to study the relationship between vitamin D status and spinal disease, especially in postmenopausal women with LBP,” the authors said.
 
 Seriously affecting the quality of life and representing a burden on the healthcare system, LDD is one of the most common reasons for LBP with results of the study show that smoking, vitamin D deficiency, lack of vitamin D supplementation, high body mass index and osteoporosis are associated with a higher prevalence of moderate to severe pain.
 
 “The present study has shown hypovitaminosis D is highly prevalent in postmenopausal women. Severe vitamin D deficiency is associated with LDD and LBP in postmenopausal women. Thus, a serum concentration of vitamin D &lt; 10 ng/mL should be considered an indicator of severe disc degeneration and LBP. Therefore, large- scale clinical trials are warranted to investigate the clinical efficacy of vitamin D supplementation for the prevention and treatment of disc degeneration and lower back pain,” the authors concluded.
 
 
 Source:
 Menopause. 2020. DOI: <a href="https://journals.lww.com/menopausejournal/Abstract/publishahead/Does_vitamin_D_status_influence_lumbar_disc.97235.aspx">10.1097/GME.0000000000001499</a>

Post-menopausal women experiencing moderate to severe lower back pain may be deficient in vitamin D, results of a new study reports.

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