Childhood 25-OH vitamin D levels and carotid intima-media thickness in adulthood: the cardiovascular risk in young Finns study.

CONTEXT Low vitamin D levels in adulthood have been associated with cardiovascular disease. OBJECTIVE To investigate if low vitamin D levels in childhood are related with increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) in adulthood. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The analyses included 2148 subjects from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, aged 3-18 years at baseline (in 1980). Subjects were re-examined at age 30-45 years (in 2007). Childhood levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D were measured from stored serum in 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The carotid artery IMT from 2007 was used. RESULTS When adjusted for age, sex, and childhood risk factors, continuous data of childhood 25-OH vitamin was inversely associated with adulthood carotid IMT levels among females (β ± SE -0.006 ± 0.003, P = 0.03), but not among males (0.001 ± 0.004, P = 0.88). Children with 25-OH vitamin D levels in the lowest quartile (<40 nmol/L) had significantly increased odds of having high-risk IMT (highest decile of common carotid or carotid bulb IMT or carotid plaque) as adults, in analyses adjusted for age, sex and either childhood risk factors (odds ratio 1.70 [95 % CI 1.15-2.31], P = 0.0007) or adult risk factors, including adult vitamin D levels (odds ratio 1.80 [1.30-2.48], P = 0.0004). In sex-specific analyses, these associations were significant both in females and males (P always <0.05). In sensitivity analyses, those with childhood vitamin D levels in the lowest quintile (<37 nmol/L), gave similar results to those using a quartile cut-point. CONCLUSIONS Low 25-OH vitamin D levels in childhood were associated with increased carotid IMT in adulthood.