Open heart surgery impacts Vit D levels

Vitamin D levels are significantly reduced by the stress of open-heart surgery, but aggressive supplementation with vitamin D3, just before and after surgery, can completely eliminate the observed drop in vitamin D.

Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in the US conducted a study in which they made two key discoveries, that:

1. open-heart surgery patients generally have low levels of vitamin D to begin with, and
2. stress associated with the surgery further reduced their vitamin D levels by the time they were discharged from the hospital.

A vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes, according to Dr J Brent Muhlestein, lead author of the study, and cardiovascular researcher at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.

The study showed that giving heart patients vitamin D3 supplements before and after surgery reduced those deficiencies. Patients who were given the supplement had normal levels of vitamin D shortly after the surgery. “We’re gathering more evidence that vitamin D deficiency is strongly associated with heart disease and death,” said Dr Muhlestein.

Dr Muhlestein and his team studied 150 randomised elective open-heart surgery patients. Half of the patients received three daily 50,000-unit doses of vitamin D3 starting before their procedures. The other half were given a placebo. Patients were monitored for vitamin D levels and major adverse cardiovascular events throughout their hospitalisation, and then again six months after their surgery.

Among the patients who received a placebo, vitamin D levels dropped significantly after open-heart surgery. Among those who received vitamin D supplementation, their vitamin D levels actually rose into the normal range.

“Now that we know that the stress from surgery causes vitamin D levels to drop, we want to continue our research and see if supplementing vitamin D levels will help prevent heart problems in the future, given our understanding that low levels of vitamin D can cause an increased risk for heart problems,” said Dr Muhlestein.

The researchers are now evaluating the effect of vitamin D supplementation on future cardiovascular risk among patients who present with a heart attack.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/ExQuisine