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Association between low vitamin D, clinical outcomes varied
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Previous studies have suggested that low 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration could be a modifiable risk factor associated with chronic disease. However, recent data derived from four cohort studies now suggest genetic variants might modify the association between low 25-hydroxyvitamin D and adverse health outcomes such as hip fractures, incident myocardial infarction, incident cancer or death from any cause.
Gregory P. Levin, PhD, of the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues examined 141 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a discovery cohort of 1,514 patients from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). From 1992 to 1993, 2,312 patients underwent serum 25-(OH)D measurements and were followed for 11 years.
Besides the CHS, researchers used replication meta-analyses in the US Health, Aging, and Body Composition study (Health ABC; n=922) with follow-up in 1998-1999 through 2005. They also used the Italian Invecchiare in Chianti study (InCHIANTI; n=835) with follow-up in 1998-2000 through 2006; and the Swedish Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men (ULSAM; n=970) with follow-up in 1991-1995 through 2008.
Levin and colleagues found that interactions between 5 SNPs and low 25-(OH)D were identified in the CHS discovery cohort and one SNP associated with a variant in the VDR gene replicated from the Health ABC study.
Of the patients examined from the CHS, researchers discovered that low 25-(OH)D was linked to hip fractures, incident MI, incident cancer or death from any cause (composite outcomes) in patients with one minor allele at rs7968585 (HR=1.40; 95% CI, 1.12-1.74) and in patients with two minor alleles at rs7968585 (HR=1.82; 95% CI, 1.31-2.54). However, researchers wrote there was no evidence of an association in patients with no minor alleles (HR=0.93; 95% CI, 0.70-1.24).
“These results suggest that individuals with specific 25-(OH)D metabolism genotypes may be particularly susceptible to, or protected from, the potential adverse health effects of low vitamin D,” the researchers wrote.
Levin and colleagues suggest further research to confirm these associations.
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of disclosures.
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