Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and the incidence of peripheral artery disease in the elderly: the Pro.V.A study

Aim: this study was conducted to examine whether low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin d (250hd) are associated with a higher risk of incident peripheral artery disease (pad) in a representative group of elderly people. methods: we followed 1568 community-dwelling elderly participants without pad at the baseline among a sample of 2097 initially eligible over a mean of 4.4 years as part of the progetto veneto anziani (pro.v.a.) study. the baseline serum 250hd levels were categorized as <24,25-49,50-74,>75 nmol/l,and incident pad was defined as an ankle-brachial index below 0.9. results: at the baseline,there were no differences in known risk factors for pad (bmi),waist circumference,diabetes,cardiovascular diseases,smoking habits,total cholesterol or in the ankle-brachial index (abi) between the groups with different serum 250hd levels (<24,25-49,50-74,> 75 nmol/l). during a 4.4-year follow-up,371 subjects developed pad. the group with serum 250hd levels >75 nmol/l was set as the reference group,and an adjusted cox's regression analysis showed no association between low vitamin d levels and incident pad during the follow-up: the hazard ratio ranged from 0.76 95%ci: 0.41-1.42 for participants with serum 250hd levels below 25 nmol/l to 1.32 95%ci: 0.72-2.39 for those with serum 250hd levels between 50-74 nmol/l (p for trend = 0.08). these results did not change when participants were stratified by several risk factors for pad. conclusions: baseline hypovitaminosis d did not predict the onset of pad over a 4.4-year follow-up in elderly people. © 2015,japan atherosclerosis society. all rights reserved.