Low Vitamin D status linked with Dementia

2014-11-07 14:03:10

In this study, the authors investigated whether vitamin D levels predict dementia risk, as high vitamin D status has been hypothesized to protect against it ⁽¹⁾. The study was based on the Mini-Finland Health Survey. The people studied were 5010 men and women, aged 40-79 years, and free of dementia at baseline (in other words, they were healthy at the start of the study). During a 17-year follow up, 151 new cases of dementia (based on medical diagnosis) occurred, according to population registers. Serum vitamin D concentration was determined from blood draws. The results showed that among women, those with higher vitamin D concentrations showed a reduced risk of dementia. The hazard ratio between the highest and lowest quartiles of vitamin D was 0.33 (95% confidence interval = 0.15-0.73) in women and 0.74 (0.29-1.88) in men, after adjustment for age, month of blood draw, education, marital status, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, blood pressure, plasma fasting glucose, serum triglycerides, and serum total cholesterol. This translates roughly to a 67% decrease in dementia for women and a 26% decrease for men. The authors conclude that low vitamin D status may be a risk factor for dementia.