Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with the risk of death in a general older population in Finland.
Eur J Nutr. 2011 Aug;50(5):305-12. Epub 2010 Oct 26.
Virtanen JK, Nurmi T, Voutilainen S, Mursu J, Tuomainen TP.
University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, Finland. jyrki.virtanen at uef.fi
PURPOSE: To investigate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D concentration, a marker of vitamin D status, and risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a general older population with relatively low average serum 25(OH)D concentrations.
METHODS: The study population included 552 men and 584 women aged 53-73 years who were free of CVD and cancer at baseline in 1998-2001 from the prospective, population-based Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) Study. Deaths were ascertained by a computer linkage to the national cause of death register. All deaths that occurred from the study entry to December 31, 2008, were included. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyze the association between serum 25(OH)D and risk of death.
RESULTS: The mean serum 25(OH)D concentration was 43.7 nmol/L (SD 17.8), with a strong seasonal variation. During the average follow-up of 9.1 years, 87 participants died, 35 from cardiovascular disease (CVD). After multivariable-adjustments, the hazard ratios (HR) for all cause death in the tertiles of serum 25(OH)D were 1, 1.68 (95% CI: 0.92, 3.07) and 2.06 (95% CI: 1.12, 3.80), p for trend = 0.02.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study supports the accumulating evidence from epidemiological studies that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of death.
Large-scale primary prevention trials with vitamin D supplementation are warranted.
PMID: 20976461
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Group 3: Hazard of Dying set = 1 for 61-115 nmol (= 24-46 nanograms)
Group 1: Hazard of Dying relative to Group 1= 2.06 for 9-34 nmol (= 4 – 14 nanograms)
The study looked at a great many other factors
A few, such as the following, were statistically and significantly different between the groups
C-reactive protein Group 3= 2.4, Group 1 = 3.3
Leisure-time physical activity Group 3 = 218 , Group 1 = 169 kcal/day
See also VitaminDWiki
- Improved health due to vitamin D fortification in Finland
- Mortality and vitamin D – great chart co-authored by Dr. Grant: chart below