Vitamin D Concentrations at Birth and the Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Early Adulthood: A Danish Population-Based Case-Cohort Study

Isabel Cardoso, Ina Olmer Specht*, Fanney Thorsteinsdottir, Marta Jadwiga Thorbek, Amélie Keller, Maria Stougaard, Arieh S. Cohen, Mina Nicole Händel, Lars Erik Kristensen, Berit Lilienthal Heitmann

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
17 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: Low vitamin D in pregnancy may impair the development of the fetal immune system and influence the risk of later development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the offspring. The aim was to examine whether lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D) concentrations at birth were associated with the risk of developing RA in early adulthood. Methods: This case-cohort study obtained data from Danish registers and biobanks. Cases included all individuals born during 1981–1996 and recorded in the Danish National Patient Register with a diagnosis of RA with age >18 years at first admission. The random comparison consisted of a subset of Danish children. Vitamin D concentrations were measured in newborn dried blood. In total, 805 RA cases and 2416 individuals from the subcohort were included in the final analysis. Weighted Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratio (HR). Results: The median (interquartile rage (IQR)) 25(OH)D concentrations among cases were 24.9 nmol/L (IQR:15.4;36.9) and 23.9 nmol/L (IQR:13.6;36.4) among the subcohort. There was no indication of a lower risk of RA among individuals in the highest vitamin D quintile compared with the lowest (HRadj.:1.21 (0.90;1.63)). Conclusion: The risk of RA in early adulthood was not associated with vitamin D concentrations at birth.

Original languageEnglish
Article number447
JournalNutrients
Volume14
Issue number3
Number of pages11
ISSN2072-6643
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Cohort
  • Denmark
  • Dried blood spots
  • Early adulthood
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Vitamin D

Cite this