Effect of vitamin D supplementation on clinical outcome and biochemical profile in South Indian population with vitamin D-deficient chronic urticarial - A randomized double-blind placebo controlled trial

Background: Chronic urticaria (CU) is a debilitating inflammatory skin disease. Prior studies have shown reduced concentrations of vitamin D in CU and there are limited reports of potential beneficial role for vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of subjects with CU. We assessed the effect of vitamin D supplementation in vitamin D deficient CU patients on the clinical outcome and inflammatory markers in South Indian patients with CU.

Methods: This randomized controlled trial involved 120 vitamin-D deficient CU patients. Urticaria activity score (UAS7) and autologous plasma skin test (APST) status was assessed in all cases. CU patients were supplemented with vitamin D with a dose of 60,000 IU fortnightly for a period of 12 weeks and those in the placebo arm received matched placebo. Five milliliters of blood was drawn from all study subjects at baseline and after 12 weeks for assessing inflammatory markers.

Results: We observed a significant reduction in UAS7 scores after 12 weeks in the vitamin D treated group in comparison to that of placebo. We also noted a significant reduction of the inflammatory cytokines in the vitamin D treated group.

Conclusion: Supplementation with vitamin D among patients with vitamin D deficient CU significantly decreases disease severity which is probably mediated through reduction of systemic inflammation.