A serum vitamin D level <25nmol/l pose high tuberculosis risk: a meta-analysis

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 5; p. e0126014
• Main Authors: Zeng, Junli, Wu, Guannan, Yang, Wen, Gu, Xiaoling, Liang, Wenjun, Yao, Yanwen, Song, Yong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04.05.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Antigens; Care and treatment; Case-Control Studies; Confidence intervals; Development and progression; Health aspects; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infections; Medicine; Meta-analysis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Odds Ratio; Patient outcomes; Risk; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Statistical analysis; Studies; Systematic review; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - blood; Tuberculosis - epidemiology; Vitamin D; Vitamin D - blood; Vitamin D Deficiency - blood; Vitamin deficiency; United States
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126014

Low serum Vitamin D is considered to be associated with tuberculosis while the "dangerous" level was not clear. The aim of this study was to identify the association between tuberculosis and serum Vitamin D levels via synthesis of available evidence. A search of EMBASE, Medline, ISI Web of knowledge, and Pubmed was conducted. The number of subjects of tuberculosis and no-tuberculosis groups in four Vitamin D range. Meta-analyses were performed and presented by odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 15 studies involving 1440 cases and 2558 controls were included. A significantly increased risk of tuberculosis was found in two ranges: ≤ 12.5 nmol/L: pooled OR = 4.556, 95% CI = 2.200-9.435; 13-25 nmol/L: pooled OR = 3.797, 95% CI = 1.935-7.405. No statistically significant risk of tuberculosis was found in the range of 26-50 nmol/L (pooled OR = 1.561, 95% CI =0.997-2.442). In range 51-75 nmol/L, no positive association was found (pooled OR =1.160, 95% CI = 0.708-1.900). This study found that a serum Vitamin D level ≤ 25 nmol/L was significantly associated with an increased risk of tuberculosis while the range of 51-75 nmol/L was not. The range 26-50nmol/L posed potential high tuberculosis risk. Future large-scale, well-designed studies are needed to verify these results.