Timely vitamin D supplementation may prevent heart failure: Study

China: Vitamin D supplementation may prevent the development the heart failure (HF), a recent study in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases has revealed.

The researchers found a potential inverse association between increased levels of 25OHD and the risk of heart failure indicating that timely 25OHD supplementation or maintaining adequate 25OHD concentrations may be an essential means of the prevention of heart failure in general population. 

Vitamin D levels can be easily modified by supplementation, and if a causal relationship between vitamin D and heart failure risk can be demonstrated there would be enormous clinical and public health implications. Still, the association between the two remains uncertain. Considering this, Qiang Luo, The Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, Sichuan, China, and colleagues used two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to examine a causal association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and HF risk. 

For this purpose, the researchers used summary statistics from the most extensive genome-wide association studies for 25OHD and HF. Several methods based on three assumptions for MR analysis were used to make the results more reliable. Multivariable MR adjusting for hypertension, BMI, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease was also used to further elucidate the association between 25OHD and HF. To further determine the relationship between vitamin D and heart failure, an MR analysis with conditionally independent genetic instruments at core genes was performed considering the potential pleiotropy. 

"These findings suggest that timely vitamin D supplementation may serve as a means to prevent the development of heart failure," the researchers concluded. 

Reference:

The study titled, "Vitamin D and Heart failure: A Two-sample Mendelian Randomization Study," was published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2022.08.003