Patients on steroids must have Vit D levels checked

A study just published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism alerts clinicians to the need for vigilance in attending to vitamin D levels for patients on chronic steroid medication. The authors state:

"In many disorders requiring steroid therapy, there is substantial decrease in bone mineral density. The association between steroid use and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] deficiency has not been confirmed in large population-based studies, and currently there are no specific vitamin D recommendations for steroid users...The aim of the study was to evaluate the association of serum 25(OH)D deficiency [defined as 25(OH)D <10 ng/ml] with oral steroid use."

They performed a cross-sectional analysis on a nationally representative sample of 22,650 U.S. children and adults from the NHANES study. (This is considered representative of 286 million U.S. residents.) It's not clear why they set the bar so high, but their main outcome measure was serum 25(OH)D levels below 10 ng/ml which is a severe deficiency. What did the data show?

"A total of 181 individuals (0.9% of the population) used steroids within the past 30 d. Overall, 5% of the population had 25(OH)D levels below 10 ng/ml. Among steroid users, 11% had 25(OH)D levels below 10 ng/ml, compared to 5% among steroid nonusers. The odds of having 25(OH)D deficiency were 2-fold higher in those who reported steroid use compared to those without steroid use. This association remained after multivariable adjustment and in a multivariable model using NHANES III data."

It's a bit of a jolt to know that as many as 5% of the US population has 25(OH)D levels below 10 ng/ml. The risk is doubled for those on chronic steroids. The authors conclude:

"Steroid use is independently associated with 25(OH)D deficiency in this nationally representative cohort limited by cross-sectional data. It suggests the need for screening and repletion in patients on chronic steroids."