Author(s)

Noboru Hasegawa¹, Miyako Mochizuki², Mayumi Kato³, Takako Yamada¹, Nobuko Shimizu¹, Akihisa Torii³

¹Department of Health and Medical Sciences, Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University, Kahoku, Japan.
²Kyoto Bunkyo Junior College, Uji, Japan.
³Aichi Medical College for Physical and Occupational Therapy, Kiyosu, Japan.

We enrolled 23 Japanese men (age: 76.0 ± 8.7) and 17 women (age: 78.3 ± 9.3) in this study. The physical function of even a person getting on a wheelchair could be tested in all subjects. Blood was collected by venipuncture and the serum 1, 25-hydroxy vitamin D (1, 25OHD) concentration was measured. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Japanese version (MoCA-J) was used for the cognitive function test. Physical function was measured objectively using the Timed UP and Go (TUG) and 4-m walking test (4MWS). A significant positive correlation was found between serum 1, 25OHD and MMSE or MoCA-J. It is expected that an elderly person can maintain a mean serum 1, 25OHD level of about 100 pg/mL for preventing early cognitive disorder. In the present study, a significant positive correlation was found between urinary 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25OHD)/creatinine and MMSE or MoCA-J. Our results showed that urinary 25OHD might be a useful biomarker for predicting cognitive disorder. There was a significant negative correlation between serum 1, 25OHD and TUG or 4MWS. These findings suggest that serum 1, 25OHD levels might serve as a useful index to improve cognitive and physical functional impairment.

Serum 1, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, Cognitive Function, Physical Function, Aging, Urinary 25-Hydroxyvitamin D

Hasegawa, N. , Mochizuki, M. , Kato, M. , Yamada, T. , Shimizu, N. and Torii, A. (2016) Serum 1, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D: A Useful Index of Cognitive and Physical Functional Impairment in Healthy Older Adults in Japan: A Pilot Study. Health, 8, 1679-1686. doi: 10.4236/health.2016.815163.