Abstract
Background: Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is identified as dilation of one or more segments of coronary arteries that reaches 1.5
times or more, compared with near segments that are normal. Several etiologies like atherosclerosis, autoimmune diseases and
congenital anomalies have been proposed for this condition. Vitamin D deficiency activates the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone
system, which affects the cardiovascular system. For these reasons, we investigated the serum level of vitamin D in patients with
CAE compared with individuals with normal coronary arteries.
Methods: The study group included 30 patients (20 males and 10 females, mean age: 57 ± 9 years) with isolated CAE without any
stenotic lesions, and the control group consisted of 60 age/gender matched subjects who had normal coronary angiograms (CAG)
(40 males and 20 females, mean age: 57 ± 8 years). All participants underwent CAG at Tehran Heart Center between December
2015 and March 2016. Along with routine lab tests, vitamin D, serum albumin, calcium, phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase
levels were analyzed and the unadjusted and adjusted effects of vitamin D on CAE were evaluated using logistic regression model.
Results: The median vitamin D level of the patients with CAE was lower than that of the control group (6.5 [3.0, 18.8] ng/mL
vs. 17.7 [8.9, 27.1] ng/mL; P = 0.002). The logistic regression model showed that vitamin D deficiency was a predictor for the
presence of CEA (P = 0.013). After adjustment for confounding variables, this association remained significant (P = 0.025).
Conclusion: An association between CAE and vitamin D deficiency was found in our study