Association of Vitamin D and essential hypertension in a North Indian population cohort

Abstract

Background: Hypertension (HTN) continues to be a public health menace with substantial morbidity and mortality. The antihypertensive effect of Vitamin D is attributed to its negative regulation of renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system, antioxidant, and antiangiogenic effects. Data regarding Vitamin D deficiency in hypertensive Asian Indian population are scarce. Materials and Methods: One hundred and two Vitamin D naive essential hypertensive participants were enrolled from the outpatient department. Ninety-nine healthy age- and sex-matched nonhypertensive controls were taken for comparison. Serum Vitamin D level estimation was done in both groups through immunosorbent assay and deficiency defined as values <20 ng/ml. Results: Vitamin D deficiency was more prevalent among cases vis-à -vis controls (80.4% vs. 67.7%, P = 0.01). The mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels among cases were 15.15 ± 12.51 ng/ml versus a value of 33.59 ± 16.69 ng/ml among controls (P = 0.0001). We also observed trends towards an inverse association between Vitamin D levels and systolic blood pressure (BP) (P = 0.02). Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent with HTN, and low levels tend to correlate with elevated systolic BP. However, larger studies are needed to confirm this association.

Keywords

• Deficiency
• hypertension
• systolic blood pressure
• Vitamin D