title: Could vitamin D supplements be a new therapy for heart failure? Possible pathogenic mechanisms from data of intervention studies.
abstract: Vitamin D deficiency may play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic heart failure (HF), but whether giving patients supplements to raise vitamin D into the normal range improves their survival is not clear. It has been demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with HF, especially the elderly, in obese and in dark skinned people, and that low vitamin D levels are associated with adverse outcome. The epidemiological data have been confirmed by experimental data, which show that knockout mice for the vitamin D receptor developed myocardial hypertrophy and dysfunction. Data from interventional studies are scarce and discordant, and more research is urgently needed to confirm whether add-on supplementation therapy with vitamin D has a role in the management of patients with chronic HF.
authors.affiliation: Section of Internal Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Surgical Science, University of Verona, Policlinico "GB Rossi", P.le Scuro 1, 37134, Verona, Italy, andrea.dalbeni@ospedaleuniverona.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dalbeni
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Delva
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Minuz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D061345:Early Medical Intervention; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D014815:Vitamins / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D014815:Vitamins; D014807:Vitamin D