AHA/HBP: Low Vitamin D Connected to Hypertension

Women with deficient levels have a tripled risk of systolic hypertension 14 years later

28 sept 2009-- Younger women with low vitamin D levels may have a tripled risk of subsequently developing systolic hypertension, according to research presented this week at the American Heart Association's 63rd High Blood Pressure Research Conference, held from Sept. 23 to 26 in Chicago.

Flojaune C. Griffin, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues studied 559 Caucasian women who were ages 24 to 44 years when first assessed in 1993, at which time the prevalence of 25-OH-D deficiency was 81 percent. When the subjects were assessed again in 2007, the prevalence of diagnosed hypertension (systolic and diastolic) was 19 percent.

After adjusting for age, fat mass, anti-hypertensive medication use, and smoking, the researchers found that women with a vitamin D deficiency in 1993 were significantly more likely to have systolic hypertension in 2007 (risk ratio, 3.0) but not diastolic hypertension.

"These results suggest that early vitamin D deficiency may increase the long-term risk of hypertension in women at mid-life," the authors conclude.