Low Vitamin D May Cause High Blood Pressure in Women

WASHINGTONYounger white women with vitamin D deficiencies are about three times more likely to have high blood pressure in middle age than those with normal vitamin levels, according to a recently released study. The study, presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Chicago, adds younger women to a growing list of people, including men who may develop high blood pressure at least in part because of low vitamin D.

Researchers in Michigan, who examined data on 559 women beginning in 1992, found those with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have high blood pressure 15 years later in 2007.

"Our results indicate that early vitamin D deficiency may increase the long-term risk of high blood pressure in women at mid-life," said Flojaune Griffin, who worked on the study for the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The women in the blood pressure study lived in Tecumseh, Michigan, and were 24 to 44 years old with an average age of 38, when the research began. Researchers measured vitamin D blood levels at the outset and took blood pressure readings once a year. In 2007, they compared systolic readingsthe top number in blood pressure results that indicates the pressure within blood vessels when the heart beats. More than 10 percent of women with vitamin D deficiencies had high blood pressure in 2007, versus 3.7 percent of those with sufficient levels. When the study began, 5.5 percent with deficiencies also had high blood pressure, compared to 2.8 percent with normal vitamin D. The study was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.