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. 2023 Sep 16;21(1):629.
doi: 10.1186/s12967-023-04413-y.

Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among postmenopausal females: results from NHANES

Jia-Wei Shi  1   2 , Jiang-Nan Wu  3 , Xiao-Yong Zhu  4 , Wen-Hui Zhou  5 , Jin-Ying Yang  6   7 , Ming-Qing Li  8   9
Affiliations

Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among postmenopausal females: results from NHANES

Jia-Wei Shi et al. J Transl Med. .

Abstract

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is common among the population, but its relationship with mortality of postmenopausal females is unclear. The aim of this study is to explore the association between serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and all-cause and cause-specific mortality among postmenopausal women in the United States.

Methods: 6812 participants of postmenopausal females from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2001-2018) were included in this study. The mortality status of the follow-up was ascertained by linkage to National Death Index (NDI) records through 31 December 2019. We used cox proportional hazards models to estimate the association of serum 25(OH)D concentrations and mortality of postmenopausal females.

Results: The mean level of serum 25(OH)D was 72.57 ± 29.93 nmol/L, and 65.34% had insufficient vitamin D. In postmenopausal females, low serum 25(OH)D concentrations were significantly associated with higher levels of glycohemoglobin, glucose, and lower levels of HDL. During follow-up, 1448 all-cause deaths occurred, including 393 cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related deaths and 263 cancer deaths. After multivariate adjustment, higher serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly related with lower all-cause and CVD mortality. In addition, serum 25(OH)D presented a L-shaped relationship with all-cause mortality, while appeared a U-shaped with CVD mortality, and the cut-off value is 73.89 nmol/L and 46.75 nmol/L respectively.

Conclusions: Low serum 25(OH)D levels are associated with the higher risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in postmenopausal females. These findings provide new ideas and targets for the health management of postmenopausal women.

Keywords: 25-hydroxyvitamin D; Cancer; Cardiovascular disease; Mortality; Postmenopausal female.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of study participants
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Association between 25(OH)D concentration and all-cause (A) and CVD mortality (B) in postmenopausal women. Adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, education level, PIR, BMI, smoking status, alcohol intake, hypertension and diabetes. The solid and dotted lines represent the estimated values and their corresponding 95% CIs, respectively
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plots of stratified analyses of serum 25(OH)D and all-cause mortality. Adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, education level, PIR, BMI, smoking status, alcohol intake, hypertension and diabetes, except the variable itself
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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