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Association of Vitamin D Levels with Incident All-Cause Dementia in Longitudinal Observational Studies: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

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Abstract

Background

The role of vitamin D is not only limited to bone health and pathogenesis of chronic diseases. Evidence now suggests that it is also involved in the development of various dementias and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Objective

To carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between vitamin D levels and increased risk of incident all-cause dementia in longitudinal studies.

Design

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using the electronic bibliographic databases PubMed and Scopus.

Setting

Prospective cohort studies.

Participants

Community-dwelling older adults.

Measurements

Vitamin D serum concentrations were categorized in three groups: normal levels (>50 nmol/L), insufficient levels (25–49.9 nmol/L), and deficient levels (<25 nmol/L). We performed a meta-analysis using the general inverse variance method to calculate the pooled risk of AD and all-cause dementia according to vitamin D levels. Random-effects or fixed-effect model were used to calculate the pooled risk based on the heterogeneity analysis.

Results

Five studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled risk of all-cause dementia and AD was significantly higher in those with deficient serum vitamin D level compared to those with normal level (1.33, CI95% [1.15, 1.54], and 1.87, CI95% [1.03, 3.41], respectively). Those with insufficient level also had a higher pooled risk of all-cause dementia and AD, but the strength of association was less robust (1.14 CI95% [1.02, 1.27] and 1.25, CI95% [1.04–1.51], respectively).

Conclusion

We found a gradient effect for the risk of all-cause dementia and AD according to the vitamin D level, with higher risk in those in the deficient levels group and intermediate risk in those with insufficient levels. Our findings were limited by the relatively small number of studies included in the meta-analysis and their geographic restriction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent researcher (research consultant), Scharnhorststr. 07, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Anjani Kalra

  2. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, USA

    A. L. Teixeira

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    B. S. Diniz

  4. Geriatric Psychiatry Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, Canada

    B. S. Diniz

Authors
  1. Anjani Kalra
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  2. A. L. Teixeira
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  3. B. S. Diniz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anjani Kalra.

Ethics declarations

Ethical standards: No informed conscent was required due to the observational design of our study. No Humans and animals were involved in the present study.

Conflict of interest: The authors declared no potential conflicts of this article.

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Kalra, A., Teixeira, A.L. & Diniz, B.S. Association of Vitamin D Levels with Incident All-Cause Dementia in Longitudinal Observational Studies: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Prev Alzheimers Dis 7, 14–20 (2020). https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2019.44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2019.44

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