Vitamin D And Disease Severity In Bronchiectasis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/ajpr.v28i5.785Keywords:
Bronchiectasis; Pulmonary Function Tests; Severity of Illness Index; Vitamin D.Abstract
Background: Bronchiectasis is an airway disease of chronic nature, which is associated with irreversible bronchial dilatation and frequent infections. Recent findings indicate that vitamin D because of its immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects could affect the severity of diseases and respiratory outcomes.
Material and Methods: The cross-sectional study was a descriptive study done over a period of six months in the department of chest medicine, JPMC, Karachi, upon receiving the ethical approval. Non-probability consecutive sampling was used to enroll 89 adults with HRCT confirmed bronchiectasis. Patients who had traction bronchiectasis, active mycobacterial disease, malignancy, HIV, with the known disease related to vitamin D deficiency were not included. Bronchitis severity index (BSI) severity was determined with demographic, clinical, spirometric (FEV1, FVC), and data regarding the HRCT. The statistical conclusions were made using SPSS 25 with the chi-square and independent-samples t-tests, where p ≤ 0.05 is significant.
Results: Proper vitamin D deficiency was very high in 89 patients with bronchiectasis (62.9) and 12.4% had normal levels. There was a strong correlation between the deficiency of vitamin D and increased BSI (p = 0.01). Patients suffering deficient levels of vitamin D had lower FEV1 than those with normal or adequate levels (p = 0.03)
Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is common in bronchiectasis and is significantly associated with greater disease severity and reduced lung function.
References
1. Chalmers JD, McHugh BJ, Docherty C, Govan JR, Hill AT. Vitamin-D deficiency is associated with chronic bacterial colonisation and disease severity in bronchiectasis. Thorax. 2013 Jan;68(1):39–47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-202125
2. Ferri S, Crimi C, Heffler E, Campisi R, Noto A, Crimi N. Vitamin D and disease severity in bronchiectasis. Respir Med. 2019 Mar;148:1–5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2019.01.009
3. Niksarlıoğlu EY, Kılıç L, Bilici D, et al. Vitamin D deficiency and radiological findings in adult non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. Turk Thorac J. 2020 Mar;21(2):87–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5152/TurkThoracJ.2019.18139
4. Bartley J, Garrett J, Camargo CA Jr, et al. Vitamin D3 supplementation in adults with bronchiectasis: a pilot study. Chronic Respir Dis. 2018;15:1–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1479972318761646
5. Ali HA, Ibrahim D, et al. Impact of vitamin D status on cystic fibrosis and non-CF bronchiectasis in children — clinical outcomes and colonisation. Egyptian Pediatric Association Gazette (EPAG). 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43054-021-00095-7
6. Wen YH, Dai Z, et al. Relation between vitamin D deficiency and Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization in bronchiectasis: clinical correlation and mechanistic insights. BMC Pulm Med. 2025 Feb 14; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12890-025-03548-6
7. Moriki D, et al. Vitamin D deficiency and severity of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis: a systematic review. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2025 Jul; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17476348.2025.2535764
8. Derbyshire EJ. Bronchiectasis — could immunonutrition have a role to play? Front Nutr. 2021; 8:652410. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.652410
9. Batkunde YA, Ilyas M, Djaharuddin I, Tabri NA. Analysis of vitamin D levels on bronchiectasis severity. Respiratory Science. 2021; DOI: https://doi.org/10.36497/respirsci.v1i2.11
10. Bergman P, Lindh ÅU, Björkhem-Bergman L, Lindh JD. Vitamin D and respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS One. 2013; 8(6):e65835. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065835
11. Martineau AR, Jolliffe DA, Greenberg L, et al. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. BMJ. 2017 Feb 15;356:i6583. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6583
12. Black PN, Scragg R. Relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and pulmonary function in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Chest. 2005 Dec;128(6):3792–8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.128.6.3792
13. Ganji V, Al-Obahi A, Yusuf S, et al. Serum vitamin D is associated with improved lung function markers but not with prevalence of asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis: analyses using NHANES 2007–2012. Sci Rep. 2020;10:1–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67967-7
14. Cantorna MT. Vitamin D and lung infection. Infect Immun. 2016 Oct;84(11):3094–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/IAI.00679-16
15. Maes K, et al. Targeting vitamin D deficiency to limit exacerbations in chronic respiratory disease — rationale and evidence (review). Calcif Tissue Int. 2020;106:1–14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-019-00591-4
16. Liu M, Wang J, Sun X. A meta-analysis on vitamin D supplementation and asthma treatment. Front Nutr. 2022; 9:860628. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.860628
17. Afzal M, Kazmi I, Al-Abbasi FA, et al. Current overview on therapeutic potential of vitamin D in inflammatory lung diseases. Biomedicines. 2021 Dec;9(12):1843. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9121843
18. Chalmers JD. Author response — vitamin D deficiency and systemic inflammation in bronchiectasis. Thorax. 2013 Jul;68(7):679. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-203202
19. Maes K, Cooke-Bruck S, et al. Targeting vitamin D deficiency to limit exacerbations in respiratory disease — review of clinical data. (See: reviewers’ synthesis; Springer article). 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-019-00591-4
20. Hafez W, et al. Vitamin D status in relation to the clinical outcome of hospitalized patients with chronic airway disease — observational analyses. Front Med. 2022; 9:843737. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.843737
21. Ali, H., Deraz, T., Mohamed, D. and Mahmoud, M. (2020) The Role of Vitamin D3 Therapy in Pediatric Bronchiectasis Severity (CF versus Non-CF Patients). Open Journal of Pediatrics, 10, 521-534. DOI: 10.4236/ojped.2020.103053
22. McCauley L, et al. Vitamin D levels and pediatric pulmonary exacerbations — observational evidence (supporting pediatric bronchiectasis literature). Open J Pediatr. 2020; 10:521–34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/ojped.2020.103053
23. Afzal M, Kazmi I, Al-Abbasi FA, Alshehri S, Ghoneim MM, Imam SS, Nadeem MS, Al-Zahrani MH, Alzarea SI, Alquraini A. Current Overview on Therapeutic Potential of Vitamin D in Inflammatory Lung Diseases. Biomedicines. 2021; 9(12):1843. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9121843
24. Salman ME, Al‑Obaidy MW. Vitamin D deficiency as a sign of severity in bronchiectasis. Muthanna Med J. 2024;11(2):124–134. DOI:10.52113/1/1/2024-2-134
25. Niksarlıoğlu EY, Kılıç L, Bilici D, et al. Vitamin D deficiency and radiologic findings in adult non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. Turk Thorac J. 2020; 21(2):87–92. DOI:10.5152/TurkThoracJ.2019.18139
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License permitting all use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
