Vitamin D testing: finding a balance

To the Editors,

With great interest, I have read the article by Pu and colleagues [1] “Prevalence of depression and anxiety in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and their associations with serum vitamin D level.” The authors presented result of a cross-sectional study which showed that all rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with depression and anxiety had a lower serum 25-OH-D3 level than RA patients without depression and anxiety. The findings showed that disease activity of RA and low serum 25-OH-D3 level were associated with the severity of depression and anxiety in RA patients. While I value the reported clinical data, I am concerned by the authors’ recommendation of compulsory screening for vitamin D in RA patients. Although vitamin D levels may have a role such as environmental factor (as pointed out by the authors), in RA, compulsory screening may not be the best solution.