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Low vitamin D levels increase risk of death in diabetics

Category: Vitamin D Deficiency-Diagnosis and Treatment

Individuals who suffer from diabetes may benefit from more frequent vitamin D testing, as a new study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that low levels of the nutrient increases an individual's risk of death significantly.

For the study, researchers from the Steno Diabetes Center in Denmark analyzed vitamin D levels in 220 diabetics over the course of an average of 26 years. During this time, they examined the participants' medical records for signs of complications associated with vitamin D.

The results showed that individuals who had the lowest levels of vitamin D were 2.7 times more likely to die during the study period. However, low levels of the nutrient did not predict any additional complications, such as kidney disease or retinopathy.

Given these findings, the researchers wrote in their report that vitamin D testing could give individuals with diabetes a valuable diagnostic tool that could help them avoid potentially serious hazards.

"In patients with type 1 diabetes, severe vitamin D deficiency independently predicts all-cause mortality but not development of microvascular complications in the eye and kidney," they wrote in their report.