Abstract
The Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) are disorders of the connective tissue. EDS presents clinical manifestations potentially related to hypovitaminosis D, such as skeletal and bone health issues (musculoskeletal pain, osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis) (Reference Tinkle, Castori and Berglund1), whilst other characteristics of this syndrome can hinder vitamin D intake, such as gastrointestinal issues, dysphagia and disordered eating (Reference Baeza-Velasco, Lorente and Tasa-Vinyals2). Concomitantly, pain and dysautonomia may promote indoor living (Reference Kalisch, Hamonet and Bourdon3) and reduce exposure to UVB irradiation, which could affect vitamin D status.
This study aimed to identify whether females with EDS are more likely to have lower serum 25- hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D).
This was a cross-sectional study, analysing data from 224 EDS cases and 224 controls, using UK Biobank baseline data. The UK Biobank cohort includes over 500 K individuals, aged 40–69 years at baseline (data collection 2006–2010). The UK Biobank study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures were approved by the UK North West Multi-Centre Research Ethics Committee (MREC); application 11/NW/0382. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects.