Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Patients with Vitamin D levels below 10 ng/mL had a significant 115% increased risk for hospital-acquired new-onset delirium.
Hospital-acquired new-onset delirium is a condition that affects as many as 29% of people admitted to hospitals without any history of mental disorder (1). It is characterized by a disturbance of attention and a change in mental function (2). Patients who develop hospital-acquired new-onset delirium can remain hospitalized nearly two weeks longer than those not afflicted (3) and their risk of death within one year of being discharged from the hospital is doubled(1). The condition also results in an additional $38–152 billion in healthcare costs (4).
Now a new study (5) suggests low vitamin D levels prior to hospitalization may help predict hospital-acquired new-onset delirium. In the study, researchers analyzed the vitamin D levels of 4,508 adult inpatients at two Boston teaching hospitals from 1993 to 2006 that were assessed before hospital admission. The average vitamin D level before admission to the hospital was 22 nanograms/milliliter, with 4% of the patients meeting the criteria for Hospital-acquired new-onset delirium.
The researchers found that compared to patients with vitamin D levels above 30 ng/mL, only patients with with vitamin D levels below 10 ng/mL saw a statistically significant risk for hospital-acquired new-onset delirium (115% increased risk, p = 0.002). Statistically insignificant risks were observed for those with vitamin D levels between 10 and 19.9 ng/mL (54% increased risk, p = 0.063) and between 20 and 29.9 ng/mL (23% increased risk, p = 0.39).
When suggesting how vitamin D may help preserve mental health, the researchers pointed to research showing vitamin D to preserve the function of two enzymes affecting nerve function in the brain (NO synthase and choline acetyl transferase) (13).
They concluded that “the present study presents important evidence to suggest that vitamin D supplementation may provide a novel approach to lowering hospital-acquired new-onset dementia risk” and that “These data support the rationale for randomized, controlled trials to test the role of vitamin D supplementation in the prevention of hospital-acquired new-onset dementia.”
Source: Quraishi, Sadeq A., et al. “Association between pre-hospital vitamin D status and hospital-acquired new-onset delirium.” British Journal of Nutrition 113.11 (2015): 1753-1760.
© The Authors 2015
Posted June 22, 2015.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
- Siddiqi N, House AO & Holmes JD (2006) Occurrence and outcome of delirium in medical in-patients: a systematic literature review. Age Ageing 35, 350–364
- American Psychiatric Association (2006) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association
- McCusker J, Cole M, Dendukuri N, et al. (2001) Delirium in older medical inpatients and subsequent cognitive and functional status: a prospective study. CMAJ 165, 575–583
- Leslie DL, Marcantonio ER, Zhang Y, et al. (2008) One-year health care costs associated with delirium in the elderly population. Arch Intern Med 168, 27–32.
- Quraishi SA. Association between pre-hospital vitamin D status and hospital-acquired new-onset delirium. British Jou Nutr 2015, doi:10.1017/S0007114515001245
