Vitamin D Status in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Inflammation, Arterial Stiffness and Circulating Progenitor Cell Number

Abstract

RA patients with moderate disease activity presented with low vitamin D levels, low CD34+ cell count, increased PWV and cIMT; we found that vitamin D deficiency is associated to CD34+ cell reduction in peripheral blood, and with fibrinogen levels. This suggests that vitamin D might contribute to endothelial homeostasis in patients with RA.