LOWER SERUM 25-HYDROXYVITAMIN D IS ASSOCIATED WITH OBESITY BUT NOT COMMON CHRONIC CONDITIONS: AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND CAUCASIAN MALE VETERANS

Objective: The study examined whether vitamin D insufficiency is a predictor of prevalent and/or incident common chronic conditionsin African American men (AAM) and Caucasian Americanmen (CAM). Methods: A total of 1,017 men were recruited at an urban VA medical center and followed prospectively for a mean of 5.4 years. Prevalent and incident chronic conditionsevaluated were: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, depression, dementia, and cardiovascular disease (CVD, including coronary artery disease [CAD], cerebrovascular accident [CVA], and congestive heart failure [CHF]). Univariateand multivariate regressions were performed to examine the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) and these chronic illnesses. Results: This analysis was limited to 955 men (65.5% AAM, 27.2% CAM, 6.4% Hispanic) who had at least 1 year of follow-up (range, 1.0 to 7.1 years). Univariate analysisof the entire group showed that 25(OH)D correlated negatively with body mass index (BMI). There was no correlation between ...