Low vitamin D levels in diabetics

Published: 2010-08-11

A small but long-term observational study suggests that low vitamin D levels may be associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Increasing evidence links low vitamin D levels with greater risk of a range of serious diseases, including cardiovascular disease. As patients with type 2 diabetes are already at increased mortality risk, especially cardiovascular mortality, the authors of this study aimed to determine whether there was any association between vitamin D levels and mortality in such patients. They used data from an existing cohort established in 1987, for which blood samples were available for measurement of vitamin D levels.

The study concludes that in type 2 diabetic patients, severe vitamin D deficiency predicts increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Whether vitamin D substitution improves prognosis remains to be investigated.

doi:10.2337/dc10-0582