Research conducted at the Mayo Comprehensive Pain Rehabilitation Center and presented to the American Society of Anesthesiologists at its 2007 annual meeting found that low vitamin D levels may be associated with chronic pain.
Researchers reported that approximately 26% of patients with chronic pain had low serum vitamin D levels. Patients in this group also required higher doses of pain medication. Specifically, those with low vitamin D levels needed about twice as much morphine compared to patients with normal vitamin D status.
The researchers noted that vitamin D deficiency was unlikely to be the primary cause of chronic pain, but may act as a complicating factor that increases pain severity or medication requirements.
