Figure 6. Vitamin D improves endothelial function in SLE patients.

(a) The change in serum 25(OH)D was strongly inversely correlated with the baseline 25(OH)D (treated patients only). (b) The number of MACs significantly increased over 3 months in the treated patients but not the control group. (c) There was a non-significant increase in endothelial function (ED/EI) in the treated group but not the control group. The HC group (n = 9) is shown for comparison. (d) The change in endothelial function correlated with the change in 25(OH)D in the treated group but not in the replete cohort. The Spearman correlation coefficient for each group is shown. Results show n = 22 deficient and n = 18 replete patients. *P < 0.05, by paired t tests