Letter to the Editor
Comment on ‘‘Vitamin D Status in Migraine Patients:
A Case-Control Study’’
Fevzi Nuri Aydin,
1
Ibrahim Aydin,
2
and Mehmet Agilli
3
1
Department of Biochemistry, Sirnak Military Hospital, 73000 Sirnak, Turkey
2
Department of Biochemistry, Sarikamis Military Hospital, Sarikamis, 36500 Kars, Turkey
3
Department of Biochemistry, Agri Military Hospital, 04000 Agri, Turkey
Correspondence should be addressed to Fevzi Nuri Aydin; fevzinuriaydin@gmail.com
Received 10 March 2014; Accepted 19 March 2014; Published 31 March 2014
Academic Editor: Alessandro Landi
Copyright © 2014 Fevzi Nuri Aydin et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
We read with great interest the article by Alireza Zandifar
et al. entitled “Vitamin D status in migraine patients: a case-
control study” [1], in which they report no association between
migraine and vitamin D status. However, we think that some
points should be discussed.
In humans, vitamin D is derived mainly from the action
of sunlight on the skin. Some factors alter the cutaneous
production of vitamin D, such as age, melanin, sunscreens,
covered dresses, drugs, time of the day, latitude, and glass.
Sensible sun exposure (usually 5–10 minutes of exposure of
the arms and legs or the hands, arms, and face, 2 or 3 times per
week) protects body against vitamin D deiciency. Vitamin D
deiciency is any serum 25(OH)D result less than 20 ng/mL.
In this study, duration of sun exposure was mentioned as
120 min/day or ≥120min/day. Although time is enough for
synthesis, the mean level of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D
(25(OH)D) was 13.55 ± 0.91 ng/mL in cases and 13.19 ±
1.19 ng/mL in controls. Women, Iranian people, who wore
covered dresses were most likely to have low vitamin D levels
[2]. hese factors could have afected the results of the study.
he frequency of female patients wearing covered dresses
should have been mentioned.
UV-B radiation does not penetrate glass, so exposure
to sunshine indoors through a window does not produce
25(OH)D [2]. he environmental conditions of the subjects
in this study should be presented.
Several vitamin D metabolites are found in cerebral
spinal luid and have the ability to cross the blood-brain
barrier. hese vitamin D metabolites include 25(OH)D3, 1,25-
dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D), and 24,25-dihydroxyv-
itamin D3. Addition of these metabolites in the study could
show in more detail the relationship between migraine and
vitamin D [3].
A 70-year-old person exposed to the same amount of
sunlight as a 20-year-old person makes 25% of the vitamin
D that the 20-year-old person can make. Older adults have
a reduced level of 7-dehydrocholesterol, so they cannot
synthesize 25(OH)D as well. Furthermore, their kidneys are
less able to produce the active hormone, 1,25(OH)2D [2]. In
this study, the distribution of age groups should be mentioned
more clearly.
Melanin in the darker skin reduces the ability to produce
25(OH)D from sunlight exposure, because it absorbs the
sunlight [2]. he frequency of dark-skinned subjects should
be mentioned in the study.
Vitamin D is fat-soluble; it is sequestered in the body
fat not allowing it to circulate. Moreover, those who have
obesity cannot absorb vitamin D as readily [4]. Obesity is not
among the exclusion criteria of the study; because of this, the
results may have been inluenced. Obesity should be stated in
exclusion criteria in this study.
An inverse relationship between serum 25(OH)D and
serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) is well known. When
25(OH)D levels are over 30 ng/mL, PTH concentration levels
drop. If 25(OH)D concentrations are reduced to between 20
and 29ng/mL, PTH concentration increases. In this study,
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
BioMed Research International
Volume 2014, Article ID 635491, 2 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/635491