Athletes (national-level) with less than 10 ng of vitamin D had smaller hearts

Created January 2014

Severely vitamin D-deficient athletes present smaller hearts than sufficient athletes

European Journal of Preventive Cardiology January 7, 2014 2047487313518473

Richard J Allison 1,2

Graeme L Close 2

Abdulaziz Farooq 3

Nathan R Riding 2,3

Othman Salah 4

Bruce Hamilton 5

Mathew G Wilson 4

1 National Sports Medicine Program, ASPETAR, Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Qatar

2 Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK

3 Athlete Health and Performance Research Centre, ASPETAR, Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital Qatar

4 Department of Sports Medicine, ASPETAR, Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Qatar

5 High Performance Sport New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand

Richard Allison, ASPETAR – Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, PO Box 29222, Doha, Qatar. Email: [email protected]

Background Vitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency has associations with bowl/colon cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Many athletes are vitamin D deficient, yet no studies have examined the association between 25(OH)D status and cardiac structure and function in healthy athletes.

Design A total of 506 national-level athletes [football (50%), handball (23%), volleyball (16%), and basketball (11%)] and 244 control participants presented for precompetition medical assessment. Controls were healthy individuals registered with a sporting federation undertaking <2 h of exercise per week.

Methods All individuals undertook a physical examination, 12-lead electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, and serum 25(OH)D evaluation.

Results From 506 athletes and 244 controls,

  • 23 and 12.3% demonstrated 25(OH)D sufficiency (>30 ng/ml),

  • 30 and 23.4% insufficiency (20–30 ng/ml),

  • 37.2 and 48.8% deficiency (10–20 ng/ml), and

  • 11 and 15.6% severe deficiency (<10 ng/ml).

Severely 25(OH)D-deficient athletes present significantly (p < 0.05) smaller

  • aortic root and left atria diameters,

  • intraventricular septum diameter (IVSd),

  • left ventricular diameter during diastole (LVIDd),

  • left ventricular mass (LVM),

  • left ventricular volume during diastole (LVvolD), and

  • right atrial (RA) area than insufficient and sufficient athletes.

Furthermore, following logarithmic transformation adjusting 25(OH)D for age, body surface area, ethnicity, and athletic participation, positive associations were observed between 25(OH)D and IVSd, LVIDd, posterior wall thickness during diastole, LVM, and LVvolD in athletes but not in the control participants.

Conclusions Severely 25(OH)D-deficient athletes present significantly smaller cardiac structural parameters than insufficient and sufficient athletes. Future research should investigate the precise mechanism(s) causing cardiac hypertrophy with increases in serum 25(OH)D in healthy athletes.

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Comment by Vitamin D Life

Most likely the athletes with < 10 ng of vitamin D were indoor athletes , as outdoor athletes typically have > 30 ng of vitamin D

This is the first article I can recall which implies that the heart does not grow as much when there is little vitamin D.

See also Vitamin D Life

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Tags: Cardiovascular Sports