The relationship between plasma vitamin D level and heart valves calcification in acute coronary syndrome and non acute coronary syndrome patients

Viktor Feldman; Avishag Laish-Farkash; Chaim Yosefy

doi:10.1097/XCE.0000000000000235

The relationship between plasma vitamin D level and heart valves calcification in acute coronary syndrome and non acute coronary syndrome patients

Cardiovasc Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Sep 21;10(2):113-119. doi: 10.1097/XCE.0000000000000235. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Authors

Viktor Feldman¹, Avishag Laish-Farkash², Chaim Yosefy³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopedics, Meir Medical center, Kfar-Saba.
² Department of Cardiology, Assuta Ashdod University Medical center, The Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
³ Department of Cardiology, Barzilai University Medical Center, Ashkelon and The Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

Abstract

Background: There is conflicting data regarding the association between low levels of plasma vitamin D and ischemic heart disease. We aimed to investigate the relationship between plasma vitamin D levels and heart valve calcification in hospitalized patients with ischemic heart disease versus non-ischemic heart disease controls.

Methods: A prospective case-control study comprising two age and gender-matched groups. The study group included consecutive patients hospitalized due to acute coronary syndrome; the control group included consecutive non-ischemic heart disease patients hospitalized for noncardiac causes. Blood samples for 25-hydroxyvitamin D level were drawn. An echocardiogram was performed during the first 3 days of hospitalization and reviewed for presence and degree of valvular calcification.

Results: Forty patients with acute coronary syndrome and 40 controls (age 58 ± 11 years, 64% male in both groups) were included. Mean plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D vitamin level in the entire cohort was 24.5 ± 8 ng/ml. Valve calcification rates were similar in acute coronary syndrome versus non-acute coronary syndrome group (28 vs. 21 had valvular calcification; 18 vs. 12 had aortic valve calcification; 21 vs. 14 had mitral valve calcification, respectively; P = NS for all). We found no significant relationship between vitamin D level and valvular calcification, aortic valve calcification, or mitral valve calcification rate or degree in the entire cohort and in each group alone (P = NS for all). There was a negative correlation between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and age in the acute coronary syndrome group (r = -0.399, P = 0.012).

Conclusions: We did not find a significant relationship between plasma vitamin D levels and the rate or degree of calcification of either aortic/mitral/both valves in hospitalized patients with or without ischemic heart disease.

Keywords: 25-hydroxyvitamin D; acute coronary syndrome; aortic valve calcification; mitral valve calcification; valve calcification; vitamin D.