AUTHOR=Tao Jiejie , Lou Feiling , Liu Yuntao 

TITLE=The Role of Vitamin D in the Relationship Between Gender and Deep Vein Thrombosis Among Stroke Patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2021.755883

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2021.755883

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Introduction:</bold> Accumulating evidence had demonstrated that females had a higher risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) than males, but the mechanism was still unknown. Vitamin D was found to play an essential role in DVT, and gender may influence the serum vitamin D levels. This study aimed to explore whether vitamin D played a role in the gender difference in DVT.</p><p><bold>Materials and Methods:</bold> A total of 444 patients with acute stroke were recruited, which were divided into the DVT group (<italic>n</italic> = 222) and the non-DVT group (<italic>n</italic> = 222). Serum vitamin D levels were measured after admission and were split into three categories, including deficiency (&lt;50 nmol/L), insufficiency (52.5–72.5 nmol/L), and sufficiency (more than 75 nmol/L). Hierarchical regression analysis was adopted to analyze the relationship between gender and DVT, controlling the confounding factors.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Females showed a higher proportion of DVT than males (60.7 vs. 42.5%, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), and lower serum vitamin D levels than males (53.44 ± 16.45 vs. 69.43 ± 23.14, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). Moreover, serum vitamin D levels were lower in the DVT group than in the non-DVT group (59.44 ± 19.61 vs. 66.24 ± 23.86, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). Besides, the DVT group showed a lower proportion of vitamin D sufficiency than the non-DVT group (21.2 vs. 32.9%, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). Hierarchical regression analysis showed that females had 2.083-fold (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, unadjusted model) and 1.413-fold (<italic>p</italic> = 0.155, adjusted model) risk to develop DVT. In addition, the sufficiency status of vitamin D showed an independent protective effect on DVT (unadjusted model OR, 0.504, <italic>p</italic> = 0.004; adjusted model OR, 0.686, <italic>p</italic> = 0.011).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Females had a higher risk of DVT than males, and vitamin D may play an essential role in this relationship. Further studies are needed to explore whether vitamin D supplementation could reduce DVT risk in stroke patients, especially females.</p>