Vitamin D and Serum Immunoglobulin E Levels in Allergic Rhinitis: A Case-control Study from Pakistan

Introduction Allergic rhinitis (AR) is the most common non-infectious rhinitis and is associated with sneezing, cough, and flu-like symptoms. The exact pathophysiology of AR remains uncertain. The deficiency of vitamin D(3) has been documented as a probable cause of allergic conditions due to its role in immunomodulation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of vitamin D(3) deficiency in allergic rhinitis. Methods This case-control study was conducted with 50 patients of AR and 50 healthy individuals. Serum immunoglobulin (Ig) E and vitamin D(3) levels were measured in all study participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS v. 21.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results Mean serum IgE levels in the AR group were 553.5 ± 53.9 IU/L as compared to 219.4 ± 32.1 IU/L in the control group (p <0.0001). AR patients had mean serum vitamin D levels of 14.8 ± 7.4 ng/mL as compared to 19.1 ± 6.6 ng/mL in the control group (p=0.002). Only 10% of participants in the AR group had adequate serum vitamin D levels as compared to 26% in the controls (p=0.08). Conclusion Vitamin D deficiency was present in both study groups. The AR group had significantly lower mean levels of serum vitamin D than the control group. However, upon stratification, the differences were insignificant.