Vitamin D may not improve lipid levels: a serial clinical laboratory data study.
BACKGROUND
Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent and is associated with dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease. The impact of correcting vitamin D deficiency on blood lipids, strong cardiovascular disease prognostic factors, is unknown.


RESULTS
To determine relationships between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and lipids, we analyzed 4.06 million deidentified patient laboratory test results from September 2009 through February 2011. We performed a cross-sectional study of this population to determine associations between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and lipids across clinically defined strata. We also conducted a retrospective cohort study of vitamin D deficient patients to investigate how changes in 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels relate to changes in lipid levels. After exclusions, 107 811 patients with serial testing were selected for cross-sectional analysis. Compared with vitamin D deficient patients (<20 ng/mL), those with optimal levels (≥30 ng/mL) had lower mean total cholesterol (-1.9 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], -1.2 to -2.7; P<0.0001), lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-5.2 mg/dL; 95% CI, -4.5 to -5.8; P<0.0001), higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (4.8 mg/dL; 95% CI, 4.5-5.0; P<0.0001), and lower triglycerides (-7.5 mg/dL; 95% CI, -6.2 to -8.7; P<0.0001). For the retrospective cohort analysis, raising vitamin D levels from <20 to ≥30 ng/mL (n=6260), compared with remaining at <20 ng/mL (n=2332), was associated with a mean increase in total cholesterol (0.77 mg/dL; 95% CI, 0.18-1.36; P=0.01) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.42 mg/dL; 95% CI, 0.08-0.76; P=0.02) but nonsignificant changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.32 mg/dL; 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.66; P=0.06) and triglycerides (0.04 mg/dL; 95% CI, -2.16 to 2.23 mg/dL; P=0.97).


CONCLUSIONS
Although vitamin D deficiency is associated with an unfavorable lipid profile in cross-sectional analyses, correcting for a deficiency might not translate into clinically meaningful changes in lipid concentrations; however, data from intervention trials are required to confirm these findings.
The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
Manish P
MP
Ponda
Xiaohua
X
Huang
Mouneer A
MA
Odeh
Jan L
JL
Breslow
Harvey W
HW
Kaufman
D000368:Aged; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D008055:Lipids; D014280:Triglycerides; D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D; D002118:Calcium