Low V.D Linked to Heart Dysfunction

Low V.D Linked to Heart Dysfunction

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Vitamin D deficiency is associated with heart dysfunction, sudden cardiac death, and death due to heart failure, German researchers report.
An association between vitamin D deficiency and heart trouble is physiologically plausible, the researchers note. For example, vitamin D is known to affect contractility of the heart.
Dr. Stefan Pilz, from the University of Heidelberg, and colleagues assessed vitamin D levels in 3,299 Caucasian patients who were referred for a test used to look for clogged heart arteries called coronary angiography from 1997 to 2000. The subjects were then followed for 7.7 years.
During follow-up, 116 patients died from heart failure and 188 from sudden cardiac death, Pilz and colleagues report.
In analyses taking into factors that might influence the results, they found that severe vitamin D deficiency, compared with optimal vitamin D levels, was associated with nearly a three-fold increased risk of death from heart failure and about a five-fold increased risk of sudden cardiac death.
"These data strongly indicate that the maintenance of an optimal vitamin D status may be a promising approach for the prevention and/or therapy of (heart) diseases, warranting confirmation in interventional trials with vitamin D supplementation," the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism October, 2008.