Objective: The study aimed to examine the relationship between vitamin D levels and the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). The evidence from experimental studies points to the involvement of multiple fac-tors in coronary plaque formation, including vitamin D. Little is known, about the association of vitamin D level with the intensity of atherosclerosis, however pro-atherosclerotic nature of vitamin D deficiency has been shown to increase cardiovascular events.
Methods: Serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvita-min D [25(OH) D] were measured in 30 consecutive patients with the first acute coronary syndromes treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PTCI) or with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).
According to vitamin D levels we split the whole lot of patients in two groups, regardless of the number of vessels affected by CAD. Group A was composed of 14 patients (47%) with vitamin D non-deficit were levels were >20 ng/ml and group B of 16 patients (53%), with vitamin D deficiency and levels ≤20 ng/ml.
Results: Mean age (±SD) of the patients was 59.07±8.39 years. The levels of vitamin D was 20.49±7.31 ng/ml for all patients, with limits between 10.05 and 36.11 ng/ml. The group A had a great levels of Vitamin D than group B, 27.09±4.59 ng/ml vs 14.61±2.78 ng/ml (p<0.05). There were 15 patients with trivascular CAD and 15 patients with mono/bivascular CAD. One patient with trivascular coronary artery disease had vitamin D levels ≤10 ng/ml, while no patients with mono/bivascular co-ronary artery disease had vitamin D levels ≤10 ng/ml. Vitamin D deficit between 10-20 ng/ml was present in 6 patients with mono/bivascular disease(40%), and in 9 patients with trivascular disease (60%). All the other patients presented normal values of vitamin D. The le-vels of vitamin D was increased with age for group A (n=14) (p=0,399) and for group B (n=16) (p=0,029). There is significant difference between genders ratio (p=0.04) within both groups, but no significant di-fference between groups regarding vitamin D deficit related to gender (p=0.78). There was no significant correlation between blood pressure grade, the presence of diabetes and arterial disease and Vitamin D levels between groups. There was a significant correlation between vitamin D and renal damage, represented by creatinine levels (p=0,036) and glomerular filtration rate (p=0,029). There was significant correlation betwe-en vitamin D deficiency and the incidence of stroke/ TIA in coronary patients (p=0.017).
Conclusions: Further extended studies with higher numbers of patients are to be done, to establish more reliable conclusions regarding the relationship between vitamin D levels and coronary artery disease, as well as between vitamin D and risk factors of CAD. Demon-strating the protective role of vitamin D against CAD is important due to the implications of using vitamin D supplements as preventive medication in the future.