Vitamin D Deficiency: A Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Diseases
Andrius Bleizgys, Virginijus Šapoka
Summary
Cardiovascular diseases are still the main challenge for medicine. Despite the existence of many well-studied “traditional” risk factors, “new” risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are being constantly revealed. During the last few decades, there is a great interest in vitamin D. This vitamin appears to be crucial not only for “healthy bones” but also for many other organs and tissues. The article discusses main aspects of vitamin D metabolism and mechanisms of its action. For cardiovascular system, some effects of vitamin D are of greatest importance, e. g. the impact on renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, the immune system and inflammation, parathormone, as well as glucose and fat metabolism. Many observational studies confirmed relationships between low vitamin D and cardiovascular diseases. But large interventional trials on benefits of vitamin D supplementation for extraskeletal health are still warranted. Other conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, neurological and psychiatric disorders, and some forms of cancer appear to be also associated with low vitamin D. Clinicians have little experience about the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, and therefore the analysis of serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D - the best marker of patient’s vitamin D status - is performed relatively rarely. There is no worldwide acceptable consensus on what serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels should be considered “normal”. Some suggest that, for optimal health status, serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D concentration of at least 40 ng/ml should be maintained. Vitamin D supplementation appears to be the best cost-effective solution both for prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency.
Keywords: calcidiol, calcitriol, arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis, obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance.
