Vitamin D deficiency is said to be associated with a wide range of acute and chronic pain diseases. Previous research has provided inconsistent findings on the association between vitamin D status and pain. Therefore Wu Z et al. conducted this meta-analysis and determined that low vitamin D concentrations might be associated with pain conditions such as arthritis, muscle pain, and widespread chronic pain.

Pain-associated problems like chronic widespread pain and fibromyalgia are the major burdens for people and the health system. Data from preceding analyses on the relationship between pain and circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations is inconsistent. This analysis conducted to discover the connection between pain conditions with mean 25(OH)D concentration, or proportion of hypovitaminosis in observational studies.

Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, and EMBASE were systematically searched and directed a random-effects meta-analysis on included studies.

A total of 50 834 participants and 81 observational studies were selected. The participants with muscle pain, widespread chronic pain, and arthritis exhibited significant low mean 25(OH)D concentration as compared to controls, or patients with migraine or headache. The odds of vitamin D deficiency was enhanced for widespread chronic pain, muscle pain, and arthritis, but not for migraine or headache, compared with controls. Similar results were presented by the Sensitivity analyses.  

Patients with widespread chronic pain, muscle pain, and arthritis presented considerably lower 25(OH)D concentration. The findings recommend that low 25(OH)D concentrations may be related to pain conditions.