Lower Vitamin D concentrations associated with greater all cause mortality in older women

x-no-archive: yes


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19761886

Nutr Res. 2009 Aug;29(8):525-30.

Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations are associated with
greater all-cause mortality in older community-dwelling women.
Semba RD, Houston DK, Ferrucci L, Cappola AR, Sun K, Guralnik JM,
Fried LP.

Department of Ophthalmology, The Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, MD 21287, USA. rdsemba@xxxxxxxx

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with osteoporosis, poor muscle
strength, falls, and fractures. The relationship between serum vitamin
D concentrations and mortality in older community-dwelling women has
not been well characterized. We hypothesized that women with lower 25-
hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations were at higher risk of
mortality. We examined the association between serum 25[OH]D
concentrations and all-cause mortality in a prospective, population-
based study of 714 community-dwelling women, aged 70 to 79 years, the
Women's Health and Aging Studies I and II in Baltimore, Md. The
studies were originally designed to evaluate the causes and course of
physical disability in older women living in the community. Vital
status was determined through follow-up interviews and matching with
the National Death Index. During a median of 72 months of follow-up,
100 (14%) of 714 women died. Women in the lowest quartile of 25(OH)D
(<15.3 ng/mL or 38.2 nmol/L) were at higher risk of death (hazards
ratio, 2.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-5.36; P = .02) compared to
women in the highest quartile (>27.0 ng/mL or 67.4 nmol/L) of 25(OH)D
in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for
demographics, season, and conventional risk factors. Older community-
dwelling women with low 25(OH)D levels are at an increased risk of
death.

PMID: 19761886 [PubMed - in process]
.