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Could Vitamin D Supplements Be a New Therapy for Heart Failure? Possible Pathogenic Mechanisms from Data of Intervention Studies

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Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency may play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic heart failure (HF), but whether giving patients supplements to raise vitamin D into the normal range improves their survival is not clear. It has been demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with HF, especially the elderly, in obese and in dark skinned people, and that low vitamin D levels are associated with adverse outcome. The epidemiological data have been confirmed by experimental data, which show that knockout mice for the vitamin D receptor developed myocardial hypertrophy and dysfunction. Data from interventional studies are scarce and discordant, and more research is urgently needed to confirm whether add-on supplementation therapy with vitamin D has a role in the management of patients with chronic HF.

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  1. Section of Internal Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Surgical Science, University of Verona, Policlinico “GB Rossi”, P.le Scuro 1, 37134, Verona, Italy

    Andrea Dalbeni, Pietro Delva & Pietro Minuz

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  1. Andrea Dalbeni
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  2. Pietro Delva
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Correspondence to Andrea Dalbeni.

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Dalbeni, A., Delva, P. & Minuz, P. Could Vitamin D Supplements Be a New Therapy for Heart Failure? Possible Pathogenic Mechanisms from Data of Intervention Studies. Am J Cardiovasc Drugs 14, 357–366 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40256-014-0080-5

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