Relation between vitamin D and geriatric syndrome

Vitamin D level is a common health problem for elderly persons and it is associated with a decrease in physical performance, furthermore, it has been demonstrated that those with low serum vitamin D level has more risk of cognitive impairment, depression and anxiety.

The aim of the study was to estimate relation of vitamin D and geriatric syndrome.

A prospective study was done on 50 subjects who were normal elderly persons above 65 years. All the participants were subjected to full history taking, complete physical examination, laboratory assessment including serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (OH)D by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and geriatric syndrome assessment using 5 methods namely fall risk assessment using timed up &go test, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), geriatric depressive scale, mini nutritional assessment and Tinetti performance - oriented mobility assessment (POMA).

The number of patients who were vitamin D deficient (<12 ng/ml), insufficient (12-20 ng/ml) and sufficient (>20 ng/ml) were 11, 24 and 15 respectively. There was significant p association between low vitamin D level and female gender (p = 0.024), advanced age (p = 0.026), no-sun exposure jobs (p = 0.001) and nursing home residency. Mini mental state examination (p = 0.006) and geriatric depressive scale (p = 0.002) had a significant positive correlation with low vitamin D level while mini nutritional assessment (p = 1.000), timed up and go test (p = 0.225) and POMA score (p = 0.133) had no significant correlation with low vitamin D level.

There is correlation finding between vitamin D deficiency and advanced age, cognitive dysfunction, and depression.