Effects of a short-term vitamin D-3 and calcium supplementation on blood pressure and parathyroid hormone levels in elderly women

Calcium supplementation is effective in reducing blood pressure in various states of hypertension, including pregnancy-induced hypertension and preecl ampsia. In addition, calcitropic hormones are associated with blood pressur e. The hypothesis is that short-term therapy with calcium and vitamin D-3 m ay improve blood pressure as well as secondary hyperparathyroidism more eff ectively than calcium monotherapy. The effects of 8 weeks of supplementation with vitamin D-3 (cholecalciferol ) and calcium on blood pressure and biochemical measures of bone metabolism were studied. The sample consisted of 148 women (mean +/- SD age, 74 +/- 1 yr) with a 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (250HD(3)) level below 50 nmol/L. The y received either 1200 mg calcium plus 800 IU vitamin D-3 or 1200 mg calciu m/day. We measured intact PTH, 250KD(3), 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-3, blood p ressure, and heart rate before and after treatment. Compared with calcium, supplementation with vitamin D-3 and calcium resulte d in an increase in serum 250HD(3) of 72% (P < 0.01), a decrease in serum P TH of 17% (P = 0.04), a decrease in systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 9.3% ( P = 0.02), and a decrease in heart rate of 5.4% (P = 0.02). Sixty subjects (81%) in the vitamin D-3 and calcium group compared with 35 (47%) subjects in the calcium group showed a decrease in SEP of 5 mm Hg or more (P = 0.04) . No statistically significant difference was observed in the diastolic blo od pressures of the calcium-treated and calcium- plus vitamin D-3-treated g roups (P = 0.10). Pearson coefficients of correlation between the change in PTH and the change in SEP were 0.49 (P < 0.01) for the vitamin D-3 plus ca lcium group and 0.23 (P < 0.01) for the calcium group. A short-term supplementation with vitamin D-3 and calcium is more effective in reducing SEP than calcium alone. Inadequate vitamin D-3 and calcium int ake could play a contributory role in the pathogenesis and progression of h ypertension and cardiovascular disease in elderly women.