A Prospective Study of Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Mortality Among African Americans and Non-African Americans

Am. J. Epidemiol. (2012) First published online: November 1, 2012
Lisa B. Signorello*, Xijing Han, Qiuyin Cai, Sarah S. Cohen, Elizabeth L. Cope, Wei Zheng and William J. Blot
?*Correspondence to Dr. Lisa B. Signorello, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 (e-mail: Signorello at hsph.harvard.edu).
Received March 19, 2012. Accepted July 20, 2012.

The beneficial biologic effects attributed to vitamin D suggest a potential to influence overall mortality. Evidence addressing this hypothesis is limited, especially for African Americans who have a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency. The authors conducted a nested case-control study within the prospective Southern Community Cohort Study to relate baseline serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) with subsequent mortality.

Cases were 1,852 participants who enrolled from 2002 to 2009 and died >12 months postenrollment.
Controls (n = 1,852) were matched on race, sex, age, enrollment site, and blood collection date.

The odds ratios for quartile 1 (<10.18 ng/mL) versus quartile 4 (>21.64 ng/mL) levels of 25(OH)D were 1.60 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20, 2.14) for African Americans and 2.11 (95% CI: 1.39, 3.21) for non-African Americans. The effects were strongest for circulatory disease death, where quartile 1 versus quartile 4 odds ratios were 2.53 (95% CI: 1.44, 4.46) and 3.25 (95% CI: 1.33, 7.93) for African Americans and non-African Americans, respectively. The estimated odds of total mortality were minimized in the 25(OH)D range of 35–40 ng/mL.

These findings provide support for the hypothesis that vitamin D status may have an important influence on mortality for both African Americans and non-African Americans.
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Comments by Vitamin D Life

Even the top quartile is not a very high level: > 22 ng of Vitamin D
Non-blacks can include men with dark skins (Native Americans, Hispanic, Asian, etc) who have low levels of vitamin D
For low vs high vitamin D levels

• All deaths: 1.6X higher for Blacks
• All deaths: 2.1X higher for non-blacks
• Cardiovascular death 2.5X higher for Blacks
• Cardiovascular death 3.2X higher for non-blacks

See also Vitamin D Life

• Do blacks have a 5 year life penalty due to low vitamin D
• Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D
• All items in category Mortality and Vitamin D 207 items
• All-cause mortality does not relate to vitamin D tests years earlier - April 2012
• Death rate 2X higher if low vitamin D - 180,000 adults, not just elderly – May 2012 which has the following chart

• Dr. Grant on vitamin D and mortality in Vitamin D Life
• Mortality and vitamin D Dr. Grant co-authored the following chart