In a recent study, deficiency in Vitamin D was associated with an elevated risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Yet there were no indications that it is the direct cause of the disease. The relationship, referred to as incident dementia or as individuals who have been newly diagnosed, is currently being assessed by a team of researchers at the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center.

Methods

The term D+ was used to describe baseline exposure to vitamin D while individuals with no prior exposure to dementia onset were termed D-. Baseline exposure to vitamin D was considered D+; no exposure prior to dementia onset was considered D−.

The scientists used Kaplan–Meier curves, which compared dementia-free survival between groups categorized according to sex, age, race, education, cognitive diagnosis, depression and E (APOE) ε4.

Cox models assessed dementia incidence rates across groups, adjusted for age, sex, education, race, cognitive diagnosis, depression, and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4.

Sensitivity analyses examined incidence rates for each vitamin D formulation.

Results

After assessing all formulations, exposure to vitamin D resulted in significantly longer dementia-free survival and a lower incident of dementia when compared to the participants not having any exposure.

The short answer is that Vitamin D may be considered as a possible agent for prevention of dementia.

Highlights

In a prospective study, the effects of Vitamin D on dementia in 12,388 individuals from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center dataset were forty percent lower for participants with no exposure.

The effects of vitamin D were substantially greater in females versus males in normal cognition as opposed to mild impairment, and the effects of vitamin D were greater in non-carriers as compared to carriers. The effects of vitamin D were also substantially higher in apolipoprotein E ε4 non-carriers when compared to carriers.

It is therefore to be considered that vitamin D shows potential for dementia prevention, especially for people at significantly high risk.