Implications of vitamin D deficiency in systemic inflammation and cardiovascular health

Abstract

Clinical, epidemiological, and molecular studies have sufficiently highlighted the vitality of vitamin D [25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)₂D] in human health and wellbeing. Globally, vitamin D deficiency (VDD) has become a public health concern among all age groups. There is a very high prevalence of VDD per the estimates from several epidemiological studies on different ethnic populations. But, population-specific scales do not support these estimates to define VDD clinically and consistent genetic associations. However, clinical studies have shown the relevance of serum vitamin D screening and oral supplementation in improving health conditions, pointing toward a more prominent role of vitamin D in health and wellness. Routinely, the serum concentration of vitamin D is measured to determine the deficiency and is correlated with physiological conditions and clinical symptoms. Recent research points toward a more inclusive role of vitamin D in different disease pathologies and is not just limited to otherwise bone health and overall growth. VDD contributes to the natural history of systemic ailments, including cardiovascular and systemic immune diseases. Considering its significant impact on premature morbidity and mortality, there is a compelling need to comprehensively review and document the direct and indirect implications of VDD in immune system deregulation, systemic inflammatory conditions, and cardio-metabolism. The recommendations from this review call for furthering our research concerning vitamin D and its direct and indirect implications.

Keywords:

• Vitamin D deficiency
• Public health; Systemic inflammation
• Autoimmunity
• Cancers
• Neuroinflammation
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Cardio-metabolism

Acknowledgments

SKD and SKM acknowledges financial support from the Institute of Eminence (IOE/2021/12/FRP), University of Delhi. DR acknowledges the support from University of Delhi. SK, PB, and SS acknowledges the support from the Central University of Punjab and DST-FIST sponsored facilities at Department of Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine and Department of Biochemistry. MV acknowledged the support from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda.

Authors’ contributions

SS has proposed the concept and prepared the manuscript sections. All the authors wrote the manuscript and reviewed the final manuscript. SK and DR prepared the diagrams and tables.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Indian Council of Medical Research