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Low Vitamin D Linked to Heart Failure Deaths

by Brandon on Wed Sep 01, 2010 6:20 am
Aug. 31, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) -- Low vitamin D levels are associated with a higher risk of death and hospitalization in people with heart failure, researchers report.

The study doesn't prove that low vitamin D levels place patients at higher risk of dying. Even if the findings are confirmed, low levels of vitamin D may be a marker for some other damaging factor.

The hope is that vitamin D supplements may be able to improve outcomes among people with heart failure, but this still needs to be put to the test.

Vitamin D is best known for helping the body absorb calcium, which restores and strengthens bone, protecting against fracture. But more and more studies suggest that low vitamin D levels are associated with the risk for a host of diseases, including certain cancers and kidney disease.

After several small studies linked low levels of vitamin D to poor outcomes in people with heart failure, Dutch researchers, led by Licette Liu, BSc, of the University Medical Center in Groningen, Netherlands, decided to start a larger study of 548 patients hospitalized with this condition.
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