Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its association with metabolic syndrome among the elderly population of Birjand, Iran.

Background: With increasing life expectancy and the aging population of most countries, attention to the diseases of old age has also increased. Due to the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the elderly, the present study was designed and performed to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D levels in Iranian elderly with the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS).
Methods: This study was conducted on an elderly population of Birjand (60 and older) in the urban and rural areas of the city. In 1325 elderly men and women, with age range of 60 and older, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, anthropometric measurements and laboratory variables were measured.
Results: Twenty-eight percent of the elderly participants in the study had vitamin D deficiency. We found that participants with higher 25(OH)D had lower odds for elevated waist circumference (WC) (OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.83-0.98), reduced HDL (OR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.86-0.97) and elevated fasting blood sugar (FBS) (OR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.89-0.98). We not found any significant association between 25(OH)D levels and other MetS components.
Conclusion: Higher 25(OH)D levels in the elderly are linked to a reduced prevalence of MetS and, specifically, higher levels of favorable HDL-C, WC and FBS. Further intervention studies are needed to substantiate the results of this study. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.