| Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of mortality and morbidity, accounting for approximately 30% of deaths worldwide. Several had suggested that plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) might be associated with CVD. Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent, especially among ethnic minorities.;The objective was to examine the association of serum 25(OH)D and CVD risk factors in 970 Puerto Rican adults, 270 men and 700 women, aged 45-75 years. Thus, we investigated: (1) longitudinally, the association of serum 25(OH)D and lipid profile; (2) cross-sectionally, the association of serum 25(OH)D and inflammatory markers; (3) longitudinally ,, the association of body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) on serum 25(OH)D; (4) cross-sectionally, the association of regional and total adiposity on serum 25(OH)D.;In longitudinal analyses, baseline-25(OH)D was significantly associated with subsequent 2.5-year change in plasma HDL (beta = - 0.045, P = 0.007) controlling for age, sex, baseline-HDL, BMI, and follow-up time among others. Similarly, the adjusted baseline-25(OH)D was a significantly positive predictor of the change in plasma TG concentration over time (beta = 0.40 +/- 0.02, P = 0.03). Secondly, after adjusting for potential covariates, our analyses showed that serum 25(OH)D had a significantly negative association with inflammatory markers, TNF-alpha (beta = -0.003, P = 0.03) and IL-6 (beta =-0.002, P = 0.02), but not with hsCRP. Thirdly, for BMI and WC, our analysis showed that when predicting the change of serum 25(OH)D concentration, only baseline-BMI was significantly inversely associated (beta = -0.22, P =0.01) adjusting for confounders. Lastly, for regional adiposity, our analyses showed that neither total-body-fat in grams nor in % were significantly associated with serum 25(OH)D. Moreover, android-fat seems to have an inverse significant association with serum 25(OH)D, whereas gynoid-fat was positively associated with 25(OH)D. In conclusion, our longitudinal analyses showed that higher 25(OH)D serum did not translate into an increase of the atheroprotective HDL, nor a decrease in the not-atheroprotective TG. Serum 25(OH)D and inflammatory concentration were inversely. Obesity seems to have an opposing effect on serum 25(OH)D in this population of older Puerto Rican adults living in the Boston area, which might accelerate vitamin D deficiency status. |
