Research shows that lack of vitamin D is linked to cardiovascular disease

In the sun by Sergey Kravtsov, Dreamstime

New study linking vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular disease and death was  presented on November 16th  at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Conference.

Researchers from the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Utah, for more than a year examined records from 27,000 patients over age 50 who had no history of cardiovascular disease. Patients were considered to have "very low" levels of vitamin D in their blood if it measured below 15 nanograms per milliliter.

When compared with those with normal levels, those with very low levels of the vitamin were:

•  2x times as likely to develop heart failure;
•  78 percent more likely to have a stroke; 
• 77 percent more likely to die; 
• 45 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease.

“This was a unique study because the association between Vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular disease has not been well-established,” said Brent Muhlestein, MD, director of cardiovascular research of the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center and one of the authors of the new study. “Its conclusions about how we can prevent disease and provide treatment may ultimately help us save more lives.”

The other studies found that among general patients 55 and older, those with very low levels of the vitamin were twice as likely to have diabetes. They were also more likely to have hypertension.
Among older patients with cardiovascular disease, deficiency was associated with having a diagnosis of depression.

 “We concluded that among patients 50 years of age or older, even a moderate deficiency of Vitamin D levels was associated with developing coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, and death,” said Heidi May, PhD, MS, an epidemiologist with the Intermountain Medical Center research team and one of the study authors. “This is important because Vitamin D deficiency is easily treated. If increasing levels of Vitamin D can decrease some risk associated with these cardiovascular diseases, it could have a significant public health impact.”

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