That Health Rules

Another reason for us to check our Vitamin D levels… the study published in the June issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine: showing that low levels of Vitamin D can be a contributing factor to increase heart attack risk.

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Background  Vitamin D deficiency may be involved in the development of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease in humans.

Methods  A nested case-control study was conducted in 18 225 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study; the men were aged 40 to 75 years and were free of diagnosed cardiovascular disease at blood collection.  During 10 years of follow-up, 454 men developed nonfatal myocardial infarction or fatal coronary heart disease. Using risk set sampling, controls (n = 900) were selected in a 2:1 ratio and matched for age, date of blood collection, and smoking status.

Results  After adjustment for matched variables, men deficient in 25(OH)D (15 ng/mL) were at increased risk for MI compared with those considered to be sufficient in 25(OH)D (30 ng/mL) with a relative risk of 2.42.

Even men with intermediate 25(OH)D levels were at elevated risk relative to those with sufficient 25(OH)D levels (22.6-29.9 ng/mL: RR, 1.60 ; 15.0-22.5 ng/mL: RR, 1.43 respectively).

Conclusion  Low levels of 25(OH)D are associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction in a graded manner, even after controlling for factors known to be associated with coronary artery disease.

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The study involved patients free of any heart risk.  This finding therefore will have a significant impact in reducing further the risk of those patients already with other concomitant risk factors like diabetes and high blood pressure.  Knwoing your Vitamin D level will do more benefit than harm!

Checking Vitamin D level is a simple blood test.  This can be done easily and the results if low can have significant impact on the patient’s sense of well being since low levels can cause musculoskeletal symptoms and back pains. Vitamin D replacement is also simple since all one needs to do is take a pill!

Check Your Levels in Your Next Doctor’s Visit!

This entry was posted on June 27, 2008 at 11:17 am and is filed under General Health Tips.