Vitamin D and Chronic Pain in Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Patients—Investigation of the Relationship and Comparison with Native Western Populations

الملخص EN

Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in chronic pain.

Immigrant and ethnic minority populations have been shown to have lower vitamin D levels than native Western populations and often to be vitamin D deficient.

This systematic review investigates the relationship between vitamin D and chronic pain in immigrant and ethnic minority populations.

Included were studies reporting on 25-OH vitamin D levels in immigrant/ethnic minority populations affected by chronic pain, and/or reporting on the treatment of chronic pain with vitamin D preparations in such populations.

We found that 25-OH vitamin D levels were low and often deficient in immigrant/ethnic minority populations.

Vitamin D levels depended on the latitude of the study location and hence sunlight exposure.

There was insufficient evidence to reach a verdict on the value of treating chronic pain in immigrant/ethnic minority patients with vitamin D preparations because the studies were few, small, and of low quality.