Association of Vitamin D Levels with Incident All-Cause Dementia in Longitudinal Observational Studies: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: The role of vitamin D is not only limited to bone health and pathogenesis of chronic diseases. Evidence now suggests that it is also involved in the development of various dementias and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objective: To carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between vitamin D levels and increased risk of incident all-cause dementia in longitudinal studies. Design: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using the electronic bibliographic databases PubMed and Scopus. Setting: Prospective cohort studies. Participants: Community-dwelling older adults. Measurements: Vitamin D serum concentrations were categorized in three groups: normal levels (>50 nmol/L), insufficient levels (25–49.9 nmol/L), and deficient levels (<25 nmol/L). We performed a meta-analysis using the general inverse variance method to calculate the pooled risk of AD and all-cause dementia according to vitamin D levels. Random-effects or fixed-effect model were used to calculate the pooled risk based on the heterogeneity analysis. Results: Five studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled risk of all-cause dementia and AD was significantly higher in those with deficient serum vitamin D level compared to those with normal level (1.33, CI95% [1.15, 1.54], and 1.87, CI95% [1.03, 3.41], respectively). Those with insufficient level also had a higher pooled risk of all-cause dementia and AD, but the strength of association was less robust (1.14 CI95% [1.02, 1.27] and 1.25, CI95% [1.04–1.51], respectively). Conclusion: We found a gradient effect for the risk of all-cause dementia and AD according to the vitamin D level, with higher risk in those in the deficient levels group and intermediate risk in those with insufficient levels. Our findings were limited by the relatively small number of studies included in the meta-analysis and their geographic restriction.