Serum Vitamin D and the Risk of Parkinson Disease

Abstract

Vitamin D plays an important role in the pathogenesis of skeletal disorders and calcium homeostasis.¹ Vitamin D inadequacy also predicts increased risk of other chronic conditions, eg, cancer,² cardiovascular diseases,³ and type 2 diabetes mellitus.⁴ Recently, chronically inadequate vitamin D intake was proposed to play a significant role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease.⁵ According to the suggested biological mechanism, Parkinson disease may be caused by a continuously inadequate vitamin D status leading to a chronic loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. The epidemiological evidence of an association between vitamin D and Parkinson disease is, however, limited to cross-sectional studies^6-8 showing lower vitamin D status in patients with Parkinson disease compared with healthy controls.