Background: Vitamin D has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. While the roles of vitamin D in other autoimmune diseases have been investigated, less is known about the role of vitamin D in chronic childhood arthritis.
Main body: This review summarizes and evaluates evidence relating to 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and chronic childhood arthritis. A scoping literature review was conducted using Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Web of Science and Scopus. Further, we geo-mapped the results of the studies to identify the patterns of the association between vitamin D and chronic childhood arthritis across the globe. Of 38 studies reporting 25(OH)D concentrations in childhood chronic arthritis, 32 (84.2%) reported that a significant number of children had suboptimal (< 75 nmol/L) status.
Conclusion: The data indicate suboptimal vitamin D status in children with chronic arthritis. Further, the association between low vitamin D and increased arthritis activity follow a north-south geographical gradient.
Keywords: Childhood arthritis; Juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Vitamin D.