Significance of Vitamin D Status in Elderly Patients with Systemic Arterial Hypertension

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Hypertension is a significant contributing factor to cardiovascular disease, accounting for a significant mortality and morbidity. The elderly and aging population of our planet, a risk factor for vitamin D deficiency, requires a deeper understanding of the importance of Vitamin D. Musculoskeletal effects of Vitamin D has been well known. Extra-musculoskeletal effects of Vitamin D in cardiovascular health, cancer, diabetes and immunity has been a hot topic for the last decade. Even though Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to play a role in the aggravation of cardiovascular health, understanding of the fundamental mechanisms and the solidity of the data to suggest a causation between Vitamin D deficiency and non-musculoskeletal effects is mostly lacking and these issues have been largely neglected by attending physicians. In this chapter, we explain the proposed mechanisms of the effects of Vitamin D on extra skeletal tissues, summarize complex mechanisms with a special emphasis on hypertension in the elderly and talk about Vitamin D analogues and validity of evidence with regard to non-skeletal effects of Vitamin D in the body.