Subclinical Heart injury in men 1.7 more likely if low vitamin D

Vitamin D Deficiency and Electrocardiographic Subclinical Myocardial Injury: Results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey‐III

Clinical Cardiology, https://doi.org/10.1002/clc.23078

Muhammad Imtiaz Ahmad MBBS Parag Anilkumar Chevli MBBS Yabing Li MD Elsayed Z. Soliman MD, MSc, MS

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Objective

Association of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with non‐traditional risk factors such as vitamin D deficiency has been examined previously. An investigation of the association of vitamin D with subclinical myocardial injury (SC‐MI) based on an electrocardiographic score is a simple, cost‐effective and innovative way to explore this relationship.

Methods

This analysis included 6079 participants (58.3±13.1 years; 54.1% women) without CVD from NHANES III. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to examine the association between vitamin D categories (<20 ng/ml, 20‐29 ng/ml and >30 ng/ml(reference) and cardiac injury score (CIIS).

Results

There was an incremental increase in the prevalence of SC‐MI across vitamin D categories with the highest prevalence in <20 ng/ml, followed by 20‐29 ng/ml and then >30 ng/ml (trend p‐value <.0001). There was a statistically significant association between vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/ml) and SC‐MI (OR(95%CI): 1.27(1.04‐1.55), p = 0.04). This association was stronger in men than women (OR(95%CI): 1.74 (1.32‐2.30) vs. 0.94(0.70‐1.25) respectively; interaction p‐value 0.002).

Conclusions

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with SC‐MI, especially in men. These findings may further highlight the role of non‐traditional risk factors in the development of CVD. The value of vitamin D supplementation in the prevention of myocardial ischemia and injury may warrant investigation.