Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a proposed risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS), but its role in progressive MS is not well understood.
Objective: To examine the association between vitamin D levels and MRI features in primary progressive (PPMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS).
Methods: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25[OH]D3) levels were obtained from 267 subjects enrolled into the Secondary and Primary Progressive Ibudilast NeuroNEXT Trial in Multiple Sclerosis (SPRINT-MS). Associations between imaging data and vitamin D levels was determined using Pearson or Spearman correlation and multivariate regression analyses.
Results: 267 patients (age 55.6 ± 7.4, 47.2% male, and 51.3% PPMS) were evaluated with quantitative MRI and vitamin D levels. 25(OH)D and 25(OH)D3 were similar between PPMS and SPMS. There was no significant association between vitamin D and T1/2 lesion volume and brain parenchymal fraction. Modest associations were found between 25(OH)D3 and whole brain-magnetization transfer ratio (WB-MTR, r = 0.17, p = 0.007) and normal appearing grey matter MTR (NAGM-MTR, r = 0.15, p = 0.02).
Conclusions: 25(OH)D3 levels were not associated with brain volume or lesional measures in progressive MS contrary to what has been described in relapsing remitting MS. An association between WB-MTR and NAGM-MTR suggest higher vitamin D levels may exert a protective role on myelin content in progressive MS.
Keywords: Brain volume; Lesions; MRI; Primary progressive multiple sclerosis; Progressive multiple sclerosis; Secondary progressive multiple sclerosis; Vitamin D.
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