{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,2]],"date-time":"2026-11-02T18:32:36Z","timestamp":1793644356983,"version":"4.5.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763337600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leads to neuropathic pain (NeP), severely impacting patients\u2019 function and rehabilitation. Vitamin D deficiency, highly prevalent in SCI due to reduced sun exposure and mobility, has been implicated in NeP in other conditions, but its role in chronic SCI-related NeP remains unclear.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This cross-sectional study enrolled 182 adults with chronic traumatic SCI (\u22656\u202fmonth post-injury) currently admitted to 2 rehabilitation centers. Vitamin D status {serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]} was measured via high-performance liquid chromatography\u2013tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS\/MS). NeP was diagnosed using the Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4) questionnaire (score \u22654\/10) in combination with clinical assessment by a physician. Multivariate logistic regression, controlling for confounders (e.g., age, comorbidity, Charlson Comorbidity Index, CCI), injury severity (American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale, and AIS grade), assessed the association between vitamin D levels and NeP. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to identify a predictive cutoff.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The prevalence of NeP was 52.7% (96\/182). Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency [25(OH)D\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f30\u202fng\/mL] affected 64.8% (118\/182) of participants. Lower vitamin D levels were strongly and independently associated with NeP risk. Individuals in the lowest vitamin D tertile (2.00\u201311.68\u202fng\/mL) had significantly higher adjusted odds of NeP compared to those in the highest tertile (16.71\u201323.03\u202fng\/mL) [adjusted odds ratio: 4.8, 95% CI: (3.4, 6.8),\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001]. ROC analysis identified a serum 25(OH)D level &amp;lt;16.35\u202fng\/mL as a predictive cutoff for NeP (area under the curve\u202f=\u202f0.812, sensitivity 79.1%, specificity 71.9%).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent and a strong, independent predictor of neuropathic pain in individuals with chronic SCI. These cross-sectional findings suggest routine screening for vitamin D deficiency might be indicated; however, interventional trials are needed to confirm a potential therapeutic role of vitamin D supplementation in managing SCI-related NeP.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2025.1706735","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T05:16:53Z","timestamp":1763356613000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Vitamin D deficiency and neuropathic pain in chronic spinal cord injury: a cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Tengbin","family":"Shi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanfeng","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhengxi","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiandong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1002\/ejp.905","article-title":"Neuropathic pain prevalence following spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"21","author":"Burke","year":"2017","journal-title":"Eur J Pain"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"380","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pain.2007.08.013","article-title":"Prevalence of chronic pain with neuropathic characteristics in the general population","volume":"136","author":"Bouhassira","year":"2008","journal-title":"Pain"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17002","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2017.2","article-title":"Neuropathic pain","volume":"3","author":"Colloca","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat Rev Dis Prim"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1038\/sc.2011.156","article-title":"International spinal cord injury pain classification: part I. 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