CHICAGO, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Vitamin D deficiency in younger women is associated with increased risk of high blood pressure in mid-life, a U.S. researcher said.
Co-investigator Flojaune C. Griffin, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor and colleagues examined women enrolled in the Michigan Bone Health and Metabolism Study.
They analyzed data from 559 Caucasian women living in Tecumseh, Mich., beginning in 1992 when the women were ages 24-44, with an average age of 38 years.
The researchers took blood pressure readings annually throughout the study and measured vitamin D blood levels once in 1993.
The study found premenopausal women who had vitamin D deficiency in 1993 had three times the risk of developing systolic hypertension 15 years later compared to those who had normal levels of vitamin D.
"This study differs from others because we are looking over the course of 15 years, a longer follow-up than many studies," Griffin said in a statement."Our results indicate that early vitamin D deficiency may increase the long-term risk of high blood pressure in women at mid-life."
The findings were presented at the American Heart Association's 63rd High Blood Pressure Research Conference in Chicago.
