Relationship Between Vitamin D and Cardio-Metabolic Biomarkers Among Saudi Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent worldwide, and in Saudi Arabia in particular. There is growing evidence that hypovitaminosis D is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. We determined concentrations of serum 25 hydroxy 25(OH) vitamin D in relation to several metabolic biomarkers including total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), atherogenic index (AI), glucose, C-reactive protein (CRP), adiposity, and blood pressure in a cross-sectional analysis in 300 Saudi postmenopausal women. Participants completed a detailed questionnaire and fasting blood samples were collected. Vitamin D deficiency was common, affecting 89% of individuals. Higher serum 25(OH) vitamin D levels were consistently found among subjects with no prevalent cardiovascular risk factors (p>0.05) except for those subjects with serum CRP level ≥3mg/dl, HDL-C <1.04mmol/L, AI≥5, exercising ≥3times/week, and those with 4 or more pregnancies. Hypovitaminosis D was inversely correlated with DBP (r=-0.118, p=0.042), TC (r=-0.165, p=0.004), TG (r=-0.119, p=0.040), LDL-C (r=-0.138, p=0.017), AI (r=-0.125, p=0.031), and veiling type (r=-0.127, p=0.028). No significant impact of hypovitaminosis D on CRP, levels of which were similar among vitamin D sufficient and deficient subjects. However, hypovitaminosis D was significantly related to dyslipidemia and diastolic blood pressure in a group of Saudi postmenopausal women.