Low levels of vitamin D increase the risk of cognitive impairment in the elderly, according to findings from the nationally representative, population-based Health Survey for England 2000.
Despite the theoretical support for the role of vitamin D in maintaining brain function in old age, clinical data are lacking, the researchers note.
Therefore, Dr. David J. Llewellyn and his associates studied 1766adults, aged 65 or older, from whom blood samples were obtained to measure circulating vitamin D levels.
Cognitive function was measured using the Abbreviated Mental Test, which includes 10 questions to assess attention, orientation in time and space, and memory.
Based on scores of 70 percent or less, 212 subjects (12 percent) were deemed to be cognitively impaired.
The researchers found a significant association between lower levels of vitamin D and cognitive impairment.
After adjusting for factors that
could influence the association,
including co-existing illnesses,
older adults with the lowest
levels of vitamin D were more
than twice as likely to be
cognitively impaired as those
with the highest levels.
Llewellyn, of the University of
Cambridge and his colleagues
suggest that vitamin D
concentrations may help
doctors in screening for
cognitive impairment.
"Further research," they
conclude, "is needed to
investigate whether vitamin D
supplementation is a cost
effective way of reducing the
incidence of cognitive
impairment with few adverse
events."
SOURCE: Journal of Geriatric
Psychology and Neurology,
February 2009.
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