IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i3p383-d201791.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vitamin D Status and Mortality: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies

Author

Listed:
  • Alicia K Heath

    (School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London W2 1PG, UK)

  • Iris Y Kim

    (Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
    Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK)

  • Allison M Hodge

    (Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
    Cancer Epidemiology & Intelligence Division, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia)

  • Dallas R English

    (Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
    Cancer Epidemiology & Intelligence Division, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia)

  • David C Muller

    (School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London W2 1PG, UK)

Abstract

Epidemiological evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased mortality, but it is unclear whether this is explained by reverse causation, and if there are specific causes of death for which vitamin D might be important. We conducted a systematic review of observational studies investigating associations between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration and all-cause or cause-specific mortality in generally healthy populations. Relevant studies were identified using PubMed and EMBASE searches. After screening 722 unique records and removing those that were ineligible, 84 articles were included in this review. The vast majority of studies reported inverse associations between 25(OH)D concentration and all-cause mortality. This association appeared to be non-linear, with progressively lower mortality with increasing 25(OH)D up to a point, beyond which there was no further decrease. There is moderate evidence that vitamin D status is inversely associated with cancer mortality and death due to respiratory diseases, while for cardiovascular mortality, there is weak evidence of an association in observational studies, which is not supported by the data from intervention or Mendelian randomization studies. The relationship between vitamin D status and other causes of death remains uncertain due to limited data. Larger long-term studies are required to clarify these associations.

Suggested Citation

  • Alicia K Heath & Iris Y Kim & Allison M Hodge & Dallas R English & David C Muller, 2019. "Vitamin D Status and Mortality: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:3:p:383-:d:201791
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/3/383/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/3/383/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Garland, C.F. & Kim, J.J. & Mohr, S.B. & Gorham, E.D. & Grant, W.B. & Giovannucci, E.L. & Baggerly, L. & Hofflich, H. & Ramsdell, J.W. & Zeng, K. & Heaney, R.P., 2014. "Meta-analysis of all-cause mortality according to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(8), pages 43-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cem Ekmekcioglu & Daniela Haluza & Michael Kundi, 2017. "25-Hydroxyvitamin D Status and Risk for Colorectal Cancer and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Epidemiological Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Martin Gaksch & Rolf Jorde & Guri Grimnes & Ragnar Joakimsen & Henrik Schirmer & Tom Wilsgaard & Ellisiv B Mathiesen & Inger Njølstad & Maja-Lisa Løchen & Winfried März & Marcus E Kleber & Andreas Tom, 2017. "Vitamin D and mortality: Individual participant data meta-analysis of standardized 25-hydroxyvitamin D in 26916 individuals from a European consortium," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Adam Cook, 2022. "Saving lives: the 2006 expansion of daylight saving in Indiana," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 861-891, July.
    4. Lars Alfredsson & Bruce K. Armstrong & D. Allan Butterfield & Rajiv Chowdhury & Frank R. de Gruijl & Martin Feelisch & Cedric F. Garland & Prue H. Hart & David G. Hoel & Ramune Jacobsen & Pelle G. Lin, 2020. "Insufficient Sun Exposure Has Become a Real Public Health Problem," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-15, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:3:p:383-:d:201791. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.