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Background : Pain and vitamin D deficiency are common in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Disease activity, fatigue, frequent relapses, prior surgery and psychological factors all seem to influence the experience of pain in IBD. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with muscle and skeletal pain. This study aimed to determine whether there is an association between vitamin D deficiency and severity of pain in patients with IBD, and to investigate the influence of other socio-demographic and psychological variables on the experience of pain. Methods : Patients with IBD were recruited from nine hospitals in Norway in a multicenter cross-sectional study. The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) questionnaire was used to measure pain. Disease activity was assessed using clinical disease activity indices, C-reactive protein (CRP) and fecal calprotectin. Regression models were fitted to explore a possible association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and pain severity. Results : Of 407 patients included in the analyses, 229 (56%) had Crohn's disease (CD) and 178 (44%) had ulcerative colitis (UC). Vitamin D deficiency was present in half (203/407) of patients. Presence of pain was reported by 76% (309/407). More severe pain was associated with female gender and increased disease activity scores, but not with increased CRP or fecal calprotectin. In CD, patients without prior intra-abdominal surgery reported more severe pain. In multivariate analyses, there was no association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and pain severity. Conclusions : In this study, no significant association between pain severity and vitamin D deficiency was revealed in patients with IBD., Competing Interests: Frigstad SO reports a research grant from Pharmacosmos AS, during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Tillotts Pharma, Pharmacosmos AS, Janssen-Cilag, Pfizer, Takeda, Intercept Pharma, and Abbvie, outside the submitted work. Høivik ML reports personal fees from MSD, Tillotts Pharma, Abbvie, Takeda and MEDA, outside the submitted work, and investigator initiated research grants, outside the submitted work. Jelsness-Jørgensen LP reports an unrestricted research grant from Tillotts Pharma, during the conduct of the study. The other authors state no conflicts of interest.

Aim: To investigate if vitamin D deficiency is associated with fatigue in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)., Methods: IBD patients were recruited from nine hospitals in the southeastern and western regions of Norway to participate in a multicenter cross-sectional study lasting from March 2013 to April 2014. Data were collected by interviews, from medical records and laboratory tests. The Fatigue Questionnaire (FQ) was used to measure fatigue. Linear and logistic regression models were applied to explore the possible association between vitamin D deficiency and total fatigue scores and chronic fatigue, respectively. The analyses were adjusted for age, gender, disease activity, depressive symptoms and sleep disturbance., Results: In total, 405 patients were included in the analyses, of which 227 (56%) had Crohn's disease (CD) and 178 (44%) had ulcerative colitis (UC). Vitamin D deficiency (< 50 nmol/L) was present in half (203/405) of the patients. Chronic fatigue was reported by 116 (29%) of all included patients with substantial fatigue reported by 194 (48%). Vitamin D levels were neither associated with total fatigue nor with chronic fatigue. Higher total fatigue scores and chronic fatigue were both associated with increased disease activity scores in patients with UC and CD, but not with increased CRP or fecal calprotectin. In UC patients, female gender was associated with fatigue in the univariate analysis, but no such difference was found when adjusted for elevated disease activity scores. Sleep disturbance and more depressive symptoms were associated with total fatigue scores in both UC and CD patients, but with chronic fatigue only in CD patients., Conclusion: In this study, no significant association between fatigue and vitamin D deficiency in IBD patients was revealed., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Background and Aim: Vitamin D deficiency is common in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aims of the present study were to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and to identify clinical and epidemiological variables associated with vitamin D deficiency in an outpatient population with IBD., Methods: Participants were recruited from nine hospitals in the southeastern and western regions of Norway as part of an observational, multicentre study from March 2013 to April 2014. Clinical and epidemiological data were collected by interview and from medical records. All analyses of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D) were performed in the same laboratory., Results: In total, 49% (200/408) of the patients had a 25-OH-D concentration <50 nmol/L, including 53% (122/230) of the Crohn's disease (CD) patients and 44% (78/178) of the ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. In CD patients, disease activity, measured as the HBI, was inversely associated with vitamin D deficiency. No such association was observed with the Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index (SCCAI) scores in UC, but in UC patients, vitamin D deficiency was associated with elevated faecal calprotectin >100 mg/kg. In patients with CD, there were significantly more relapses during the previous year in patients with vitamin D deficiency., Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency was common, especially in CD, and was associated with increased disease activity, a relapsing disease course and higher inflammatory activity.