Influence of physical activity on serum vitamin D levels in people with multiple sclerosis

PLoS One. 2020 Jun 11;15(6):e0234333. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234333. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

In most cases, multiple sclerosis (MS) patients reduce physical activity with disease progression and many patients are found to be vitamin D deficient. The aim of this study was to explore correlations between daily physical activity in everyday life and 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3 (25(OH)D3) serum levels in mildly disabled patients with an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) ≤ 4. We analyzed serum 25(OH)D3 levels and recorded daily physical activity (activity duration, number of steps, distance, energy expenditure) using an activity tracker for 14-days in 25 women and 15 men. Participants recorded their daily sunlight exposure time by diary during the study period. We found a positive correlation between physical activity and 25(OH)D3 levels in both, Pearson correlation (r = 0.221) and multivariate regression analysis (β = 0.236), which was stronger than correlation with sunlight exposure time (β = -0.081). EDSS and physical activity were weakly correlated (r = -0.228), but no correlation between EDSS and 25(OH)D3 levels was found (r = -0.077). There were no relevant differences in physical activity (p = 0.803) and 25(OH)D3 concentrations (p = 0.385) between the EDSS groups 0 - 1.5 and 2.0 - 4.0. In conclusion, physical activity has an effect on vitamin D levels independent of sunlight exposure time in people with MS (pwMS) with low-grade disability.

Publication types

  • Observational Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Calcifediol / blood*
  • Disability Evaluation
  • Disease Progression
  • Exercise / physiology*
  • Female
  • Fitness Trackers
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multiple Sclerosis / blood*
  • Multiple Sclerosis / complications
  • Multiple Sclerosis / physiopathology*
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Prospective Studies
  • Regression Analysis
  • Sunlight
  • Vitamin D Deficiency / blood
  • Vitamin D Deficiency / complications
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Calcifediol

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.