SAN DIEGO — Adults with type 2 diabetes and severe vitamin D deficiency face a twofold increased risk of all-cause mortality, independent of urinary albumin excretion rate and conventional cardiovascular risk factors, results from a long-term observational study showed.
Dr. Christel Joergensen, of the Steno Diabetes Center, Gentofte, Denmark, and her associates followed 290 white patients with type 2 diabetes for a median of 15.5 years. Severe vitamin D deficiency was defined as the lower 10th percentile (below 13.9 nmol/L), Dr. Joergensen, said in an interview during a poster session at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology.
At baseline, the mean age of patients was 54 years, 173 were normoalbuminuric, 73 had microalbuminuria, and 44 had macroalbuminuria. The median vitamin D level was 35.7 nmol/L, with a range of 5-137 nmol/L.
During follow-up, 142 patients (49%) died. Of these, 102 (73%) died from cardiovascular causes. All-cause mortality was significantly increased in patients with severe vitamin D deficiency (hazard ratio 2.3), an association that persisted after adjustment for urinary albumin excretion rate, glomerular filtration rate, hemoglobin A1c, and conventional cardiovascular risk factors (HR 1.94).
Severe vitamin D deficiency was also significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.93).
Dr. Joergensen acknowledged that the relatively small number of patients in the study was a limitation.
Disclosures: Dr. Joergensen had no financial conflicts of interest to disclose.