Frontline: Vitamin D; Risk of dementia; Osteoporosis Drug
Higher Vitamin D Levels Linked with Milder COVID-19 Cases
Researchers in Israel found “striking” differences in the chances of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 when they compared patients who had sufficient vitamin D levels (20 nanograms per milliliter or higher) prior to contracting COVID with those who didn’t. They discovered that about half of people who were deficient in vitamin D before getting COVID-19 developed severe illness, compared to less than 10 percent of people who had sufficient levels of vitamin D. The researchers theorized that vitamin D helped bolster the immune system’s ability to provide protection against viruses. However, these findings do not provide a cause-and-effect association between higher vitamin D levels and milder cases of COVID-19; the researchers could not determine if vitamin D levels were low before or after people contracted COVID-19. The study was published Feb. 3, 2022, in the journal PLOS One. A simple blood test can detects the level of vitamin D in the bloodstream.
Health Status in Midlife Tied to Risk of Dementia in Later Life
Having chronic illnesses in middle age appears to boost the risk of developing dementia in later years, according to research published Feb. 2, 2022, in The BMJ. The study was based on data from more than 10,000 British citizens who were between ages 35 and 55 when they joined the study. Over a median follow-up of 31.7 years, study participants who had at least two chronic health conditions at age 55 had more than double the risk of dementia compared with having none or one chronic condition, and those who had three or more chronic health conditions at age 55 had almost five times the risk. The chronic health problems included hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, depression, cancer, chronic kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and lung disease.
Osteoporosis Drug Associated with Higher Rates of Depression
Bisphosphonates are a class of drugs used to treat osteoporosis. Researchers who sought to determine whether taking these drugs was associated with a higher rate of depression analyzed more than 100,000 adverse drug reactions reported to the Food & Drug Administration and the World Health Organization by people taking bisphosphonates and other drugs for osteoporosis. They found that among the bisphosphonate drugs, alendronate (Fosamax) had the strongest association with depression and anxiety. When they compared the incidence of depression in those taking alendronate and those taking teriparatide (Forteo), a drug that works differently than bisphosphonates, they found a notable difference: People under age 65 taking alendronate were about 14 times as likely to have depressive symptoms as those taking teriparatide. Among patients over age 65, alendronate users were four times as likely to report depressive symptoms as teriparatide users. If you take alendronate and experience symptoms of depression or have a history of depression, you may want to discuss medication options with your doctor. Other bisphosphonate drugs include risedronate (Actonel), ibandronate (Boniva), and zoledronic acid (Reclast).
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