Vitamin D supplementation and postoperative atrial fibrillation

Abstract

Vitamin D is an important vitamin that has hormone-like effects in the human body. 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D (1,25(OH)2 D) is known as the active form of vitamin D. Activated vitamin D can affect cellular proliferation, apoptosis, cellular membrane transport, immune system, and aging through genes. Postoperative atrial fibrillation (PoAF) is an important problem that increases mortality and morbidity rates after cardiac surgery operations. Various studies have been conducted on the relationship between vitamin D and PoAF. Although there are studies in the literature showing that vitamin D supplementation reduces cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in different study types (randomized vs. observational), there are also studies showing that it has no effect on clinical outcomes. Since the subject is atrial fibrillation, the conditions of the study groups such as age, the prevalence of coronary artery disease, degree of hypertension, and lung disease should be analyzed well. On the other hand, vitamin D supplementation should be carefully determined for which patient, for how long, and at what dose.