This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
MIDSPAN Family Study: Vitamin D deficiency not linked to CVD
Several studies have reported a relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and supplemental vitamin D intake with cardiovascular disease. However, recent data suggest vitamin D deficiency was not linked with risk for cardiovascular disease in a cohort with very low 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
The researchers utilized the MIDSPAN Family Study, a prospective study that took place between March and December of 1996. From the large cohort, Paul Welsh, PhD, of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, and colleagues analyzed 1,040 men and 1,298 women offspring of 1,477 families that took part in the Renfrew/Paisley study between 1972 and 1976. The average follow-up of the Family Study was 14.4 years.
According to researchers, the primary endpoint was any CVD event coded on discharge or on the death certificate of patients enrolled. The secondary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Linear and nonlinear relationships between 25-(OH)D, vitamin D intake, parathyroid hormone and adjusted calcium with CVD were investigated, researchers wrote.
Data indicate low average plasma 25-OH(D), which measured 18.6 ng/mL, and an average vitamin D intake of 3.2 mcg daily (128 IU daily). Additionally, vitamin D deficiency — 25-(OH)D <15 ng/mL — was noted in 689 patients (33.1%).
“Those who smoked, were deprived, had prevalent coronary heart disease or longstanding illness at baseline, did not meet fiber intake guidelines (18 g daily), consumed more fat, or were sedentary were more likely to be deficient in vitamin D,” researchers wrote. “Participants with vitamin D deficiency also had lower creatinine levels and lower FEV1 output.”
Additional data confirmed that dietary vitamin D intake, parathyroid hormone and adjusted calcium were not linked with all-cause mortality in linear models, they wrote.
Further data indicate no association between vitamin D deficiency and CVD (HR=1.00; 95% CI, 0.77-1.31).
However, plasma 25-(OH)D deficiency measurements showed an association with all-cause mortality in season-adjusted (HR=3.03; 95% CI, 2.01-4.57) and fully adjusted (HR=2.2; 95% CI, 1.17-3.51) analyses.
“Whether vitamin D deficiency renders a CVD event more likely to be fatal (ie, is causal) or whether poor health (and consequently low vitamin D) leads to a reduction in the likelihood of survival of acute CVD requires additional study,” the researchers wrote.
The researchers said this study should serve as a design for future trials that examine the effects of vitamin D supplementation on all-cause mortality in middle-aged populations.
Disclosure: The researchers have no relevant financial disclosures.