Low Dietary Vitamin D in Mid-Life Predicts Total Mortality in Men with Hypertension: The Honolulu Heart Program

Background: Vitamin D deficiency was associated with total mortality in previous epidemiological studies. Little is known about the effects of dietary vitamin D intake on mortality. We examined the association between mid-life dietary vitamin D intake and 45-year total mortality. Methods: The Honolulu Heart Program is a longitudinal cohort study of 8006 Japanese American men in Hawaii aged 45 to 68 at baseline (1965–1968). Mid-life dietary vitamin D intake was calculated from 24-hour dietary recall using Nutritionist IV v3 software. We divided subjects into quartiles of dietary vitamin D. Total mortality data were available over 45 years through 2010. Results: Age-adjusted total mortality rates were higher in the lower quartiles of dietary vitamin D intake compared to the highest (p for trend = 0.011). Using Cox regression, low dietary vitamin D was significantly associated with total mortality; quartile (Q) 1 hazard ratio (HR) = 1.14, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.07–1.22, p < 0.001; Q2 HR = 1.11,...