Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Researchers found that women in the lowest 25% blood levels of vitamin D had a 145% increased risk of death compared to women in the highest 25% of vitamin D blood levels.
A new study (1) has found that vitamin D deficiency can significantly affect health in older women. In the study, researchers looked at the vitamin D blood levels of 714 women between the age of 70 and 79 in the Women’s Health and Aging Studies I and II (2) and followed them for 6 years.
At the end of 6 years of follow-up, the researchers found that women in the lowest 25% blood levels of vitamin D (15.3 nanograms/milliliter ) had a 145% increased risk of death compared to women in the highest 25% of vitamin D blood levels (27.0 ng/mL). Although there is no formal consensus on the optimal levels of vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency is often defined as a blood levels below 20 ng/mL (equal to 50 nmol/L) (3), of which half of the women in the present study were shown to be deficient.
For the researchers, “Older community-dwelling women with low 25 (OH)D levels are at an increased risk of death.”
Source: Ginde, Adit A., et al. “Prospective Study of Serum 25‐Hydroxyvitamin D Level, Cardiovascular Disease Mortality, and All‐Cause Mortality in Older US Adults.” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 57.9 (2009): 1595-1603.
© 2009, Copyright The Authors
Posted October 16, 2009.
References:
- Semba RD. Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations are associated with greater all-cause mortality in older community-dwelling women. Nutrition Research 2009; 29(8): 525-530.
- Women’s Health and Aging Study Details, see the National Institute on Aging website.
- Holick MF. Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med 2007;357:266-81.
