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Vitamin D and Risk of Cognitive Decline in Elderly Persons

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TLDR
Low levels of vitamin D were associated with substantial cognitive decline in the elderly population studied over a 6-year period, which raises important new possibilities for treatment and prevention.
Abstract
Background: To our knowledge, no prospective study has examined the association between vitamin D and cognitive decline or dementia. Methods: We determined whether low levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) were associated with an increased risk of substantial cognitive decline in the InCHIANTI population–based study conducted in Italy between 1998 and 2006 with follow-up assessments every 3 years. A total of 858 adults 65 years or older completed interviews, cognitive assessments, and medical examinations and provided blood samples. Cognitive decline was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and substantial decline was defined as 3 or more points. The Trail-Making Tests A and B were also used, and substantial decline was defined as the worst 10% of the distribution of decline or as discontinued testing. Results: The multivariate adjusted relative risk (95% confidence interval [CI]) of substantial cognitive decline on the MMSE in participants who were severely serum 25 (OH)D deficient (levels25 nmol/L) in comparison with those with sufficient levels of 25(OH)D (75 nmol/L) was 1.60 (95% CI, 1.19-2.00). Multivariate adjusted random-effects models demonstrated that the scores of participants who were severely 25(OH)D deficient declined by an additional 0.3 MMSE points per year more than those with sufficient levels of 25(OH)D. The relative risk for substantial decline on Trail-Making Test B was 1.31 (95% CI, 1.03-1.51) among those who were severely 25(OH)D deficient compared with those with sufficient levels of 25(OH)D. No significant association was observed for Trail-Making Test A. Conclusion: Low levels of vitamin D were associated with substantial cognitive decline in the elderly population studied over a 6-year period, which raises important new possibilities for treatment and prevention. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(13):1135-1141

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Sunlight and Vitamin D: A global perspective for health

TL;DR: A three-part strategy of increasing food fortification programs with vitamin D, sensible sun exposure recommendations and encouraging ingestion of a vitamin D supplement when needed should be implemented to prevent global vitamin D deficiency and its negative health consequences.
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Vitamin D, effects on brain development, adult brain function and the links between low levels of vitamin D and neuropsychiatric disease

TL;DR: The preclinical findings revealing that vitamin D can regulate catecholamine levels and protect against specific Alzheimer-like pathology increase the plausibility of this link.
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Vitamin D: The "sunshine" vitamin

TL;DR: The mechanisms that are presumed to underlie the relationship between vitamin D and the importance of this hormone in overall health and the prevention of chronic diseases are summarized and understand its biology and clinical implications.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

“Mini-mental state”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician

TL;DR: A simplified, scored form of the cognitive mental status examination, the “Mini-Mental State” (MMS) which includes eleven questions, requires only 5-10 min to administer, and is therefore practical to use serially and routinely.

A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician

TL;DR: The Mini-Mental State (MMS) as mentioned in this paper is a simplified version of the standard WAIS with eleven questions and requires only 5-10 min to administer, and is therefore practical to use serially and routinely.
Journal ArticleDOI

Estimating the Dimension of a Model

TL;DR: In this paper, the problem of selecting one of a number of models of different dimensions is treated by finding its Bayes solution, and evaluating the leading terms of its asymptotic expansion.

Estimating the dimension of a model

TL;DR: In this paper, the problem of selecting one of a number of models of different dimensions is treated by finding its Bayes solution, and evaluating the leading terms of its asymptotic expansion.
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