Low Vitamin D status was associated with accelerated decline in cognitive function in ethnically diverse older adults, including African American and Hispanic individuals who exhibited a high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency. 382 participants (mean age of 75.5 years) were studied. Diagnosis at enrollment included 17.5% with dementia, 32.7% with mild cognitive impairment, and 49.5% cognitively normal.
Rates of decline in episodic memory and executive function among Vitamin D-deficient participants were greater than those with adequate status after controlling for age, sex, education, ethnicity, body mass index, season of blood draw, vascular risk, and apolipoprotein E4 genotype. Vitamin D status was not significantly associated with decline in semantic memory or visuospatial ability. Exclusion of participants with dementia did not substantially affect the associations between Vitamin D status and rates of cognitive decline. Whether Vitamin D supplementation slows cognitive decline should be examined in future studies.
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Miller JW, Harvey DJ, Beckett LA, Green R, Farias ST, Reed BR, Olichney JM, Mungas DM, DeCarli C: Vitamin D Status and Rates of Cognitive Decline in a Multiethnic Cohort of Older Adults. JAMA Neurology [Epub ahead of print, Sept. 14, 2015; doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2015.2115].
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26366714