The Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in Patients Undergoing Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

PURPOSE: We investigated and compared the serum 25-OH vitamin D [25(OH)D] level and prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) between patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and healthy participants through a matched analysis. METHODS: The unmatched case group consisted of 824 patients who underwent TKA and the unmatched control group 2,794 healthy participants examined at our institution. The control group was matched on the various characteristics—sex, age, weight, body mass index (BMI), blood chemistry, and season of sampling—through propensity score matching (PSM). After PSM, 501 and 721 patients were matched in the case and control group, respectively. Levels of blood chemistry including 25(OH)D were examined and VDD was defined as < 20 ng/mL. RESULTS: The average serum 25(OH)D level was significantly lower in the OA group (15.3 ng/mL) than that in the control group (19.9 ng/mL, p < 0.001). When categorized using a 20 ng/mL cutoff, the VDD prevalence was 75.0% in the OA group and 59.4% in the control group. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency was 18.4% in the OA group and 24.5% in the control group. The prevalence of vitamin D sufficiency was 6.8% in the OA group and 15.9% in the control group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The patients who underwent TKA had lower serum 25(OH)D level and higher VDD prevalence compared to the healthy participants who matched using PSM. There were no differences in VDD rates by sex or obesity and the VDD prevalence was more than 70% during all season. Therefore, in patients undergoing TKA, general attention to VDD is required regardless of sex, obesity, and season. SUMMARY: Serum 25-OH vitamin D [25(OH)D] level and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) prevalence were compared between patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty and healthy individuals. The differences in serum 25(OH)D level and VDD prevalence were significant between the two groups after propensity score matching SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11657-022-01097-7.