Effect of Vitamin D Deficiency on Coronary Artery Stenosis

Background: Vitamin D is a prohormone that has recently been reported to modulate the inflammatory process and probably atherosclerosis. There is conflicting evidence in favor of the impact of hypovitaminosis of vitamin D on coronary artery stenosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between 25(OH) vitamin D and the extent and severity of coronary artery stenosis in sample of the Iranian population undergoing elective coronary artery angiography. Methods: Patients undergoing elective coronary artery angiography were included in this case- control study. Significant coronary artery stenosis was defined as stenosis >60% of any major coronary artery and >50% for the left main artery as evaluated by quantitative coronary angiography. Results: Hypovitaminosis D was observed in 60.2% of 224 patients. The patients were divided according to their vitamin D level (i.e., <10, 11–20, and 21–30) and also based on the percentage of their coronary artery stenosis (i.e., normal coronary artery, insignificant stenosis, and significant stenosis). A higher vitamin D level was associated with age. Hypovitaminosis D had no association with persistence, extent, and severity of coronary artery stenosis. Conclusions: Hypovitaminosis D was not significantly associated with the incidence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. At present, the data regarding the causal link between vitamin D status and coronary artery stenosis are conflicting. These conflicting findings may be due to factors relating to the study designs, ethnicity, confounding factors, and other coronary artery disease risk factors. Further research is needed to determine whether this association does exist.