Zhang, XiTu, WanzhuManson, JoAnn E.Tinker, LesleyLiu, SiminCauley, Jane A.Qi, LihongMouton, CharlesMartin, Lisa W.Hou, LifangSong, Yiqing2019-08-282019-08-282019-02-19Zhang, X., Tu, W., Manson, J. E., Tinker, L., Liu, S., Cauley, J. A., … Song, Y. (2019). Racial/Ethnic Differences in 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D and Parathyroid Hormone Levels and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Postmenopausal Women. Journal of the American Heart Association, 8(4), e011021. doi:10.1161/JAHA.118.011021https://hdl.handle.net/1805/20648Background Recent evidence suggests that racial/ethnic differences in circulating levels of free or bioavailable 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25[ OH ]D) rather than total 25( OH )D may explain apparent racial disparities in cardiovascular disease ( CVD ). We prospectively examined black-white differences in the associations of total, free, and bioavailable 25( OH )D, vitamin D-binding protein, and parathyroid hormone levels at baseline with incident CVD (including nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, and CVD death) in postmenopausal women. Methods and Results We conducted a case-cohort study among 79 705 postmenopausal women, aged 50 to 79 years, who were free of CVD at baseline in the WHI-OS (Women's Health Initiative Observational Study). A subcohort of 1300 black and 1500 white participants were randomly chosen as controls; a total of 550 black and 1500 white women who developed incident CVD during a mean follow-up of 11 years were chosen as cases. We directly measured total 25( OH )D, vitamin D-binding protein, albumin, parathyroid hormone, and calculated free and bioavailable 25( OH )D. Weighted Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine their associations with CVD risk. Although vitamin D-binding protein and total, free, and bioavailable 25( OH )D were not significantly associated with CVD risk in black or white women, a significant positive association between parathyroid hormone and CVD risk persisted in white women (hazard ratio comparing the highest quartile with the lowest, 1.37; 95% CI , 1.06-1.77) but not in black women (hazard ratio comparing the highest quartile with the lowest, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.79-1.58), independent of total, free, and bioavailable 25( OH )D or vitamin D-binding protein. Conclusions Circulating levels of vitamin D biomarkers are not related to CVD risk in either white or black women. Higher parathyroid hormone levels may be an independent risk factor for CVD in white women.en-USAttribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States25(OH)DBiomarkerCardiovascular diseaseParathyroid hormone/calcitoninVitamin DWomenArticle