11.18.22
Optimal vitamin D concentrations may be a protective factor against all-cause mortality for older adults with osteoarthritis, according to a study of National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) data.
“Bone diseases are a major cause of death in the elderly, and it is widely known that vitamin D helps the body to absorb and use calcium, protecting the bones,” the authors of the study wrote. “On the contrary, in the situation of vitamin D deficiency, the body has to take calcium from its stores in the skeleton. Weakened existing bone leads up to a less favorable survival.”
Further, vitamin D has linked to benefits in other non-skeletal diseases, in large part due to its antioxidant and inflammatory-modulating activity, the authors noted.
In the present study, authors took data from NHANES III, as well as the NHANES 2001-2018 database. They examined the results of 4,750 osteoarthritis patients, placing them into groups depending on their 25(OH)D concentrations (less than 25, 25-49.9, 50-74.9, and greater than or equal to 75 nmol/L).
In total, 1,388 patients died by the end of the period of evaluation. A significant L-shaped association was observed between 25(OH)D concentrations and all-cause mortality, which suggested to the authors that vitamin D on a long-term basis could offer a protective effect against all-cause mortality.
The authors noted that their study population had a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency compared to similar studies which had negative findings – that lack of statistical power in prior studies could have been involved in the discrepancy.
Additionally, they noted that there were relatively lower hazard ratios in men than in women, suggesting that men might benefit more from higher vitamin D status than women. “Women [tend] to experience a higher prevalence and more severe OA than men. More importantly, most female patients included in our study were postmenopausal women that suffered hormonal changes, especially decreasing estrogen levels,” they wrote. In such a population, vitamin D alone might not be able to achieve benefits comparable to men, highlighting the need to develop gender-specific therapeutic strategies especially post-menopause.
“Bone diseases are a major cause of death in the elderly, and it is widely known that vitamin D helps the body to absorb and use calcium, protecting the bones,” the authors of the study wrote. “On the contrary, in the situation of vitamin D deficiency, the body has to take calcium from its stores in the skeleton. Weakened existing bone leads up to a less favorable survival.”
Further, vitamin D has linked to benefits in other non-skeletal diseases, in large part due to its antioxidant and inflammatory-modulating activity, the authors noted.
In the present study, authors took data from NHANES III, as well as the NHANES 2001-2018 database. They examined the results of 4,750 osteoarthritis patients, placing them into groups depending on their 25(OH)D concentrations (less than 25, 25-49.9, 50-74.9, and greater than or equal to 75 nmol/L).
In total, 1,388 patients died by the end of the period of evaluation. A significant L-shaped association was observed between 25(OH)D concentrations and all-cause mortality, which suggested to the authors that vitamin D on a long-term basis could offer a protective effect against all-cause mortality.
The authors noted that their study population had a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency compared to similar studies which had negative findings – that lack of statistical power in prior studies could have been involved in the discrepancy.
Additionally, they noted that there were relatively lower hazard ratios in men than in women, suggesting that men might benefit more from higher vitamin D status than women. “Women [tend] to experience a higher prevalence and more severe OA than men. More importantly, most female patients included in our study were postmenopausal women that suffered hormonal changes, especially decreasing estrogen levels,” they wrote. In such a population, vitamin D alone might not be able to achieve benefits comparable to men, highlighting the need to develop gender-specific therapeutic strategies especially post-menopause.
