Low CoQ10 and Vitamin D May Predispose to Heart Failure

Low blood levels of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and vitamin D may increase the risk of death from heart failure, according to two recent studies. CoQ10 supplements have been used by some cardiologists in the United States and Japan to treat heart failure for at least 25 years.

Christopher M. Florkowski, MD, of Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand, and his colleagues studied the CoQ10 blood levels of 236 patients admitted to the hospital with chronic heart failure. They found that low levels of CoQ10 doubled the risk of heart failure over two and a half years.

People with CoQ10 levels below 0.73 μmol/L were more likely to die, whereas people with CoQ10 levels above that amount were more likely to survive. Normal blood levels of CoQ10 are 0.8 to 1.4 μmol/L.

In the other study, Stefan Pilz, MD, of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and his colleagues measured vitamin D levels in 3,299 patients who had been referred to doctors for coronary angiography.

After an average follow-up of almost eight years, 116 patients had died from heart failure and 118 had died from sudden cardiac death. People with low vitamin D levels were almost three times more likely to die from heart failure and five times more likely to die from sudden cardiac death.

References: Molyneux SL, Florkowski CM, George PM, et al. "Coenzyme Q10: an independent predictor of mortality in chronic heart failure." Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2008;52:1435-1441. Pilz S, Marz W, Welnitz B, et al. "Association of vitamin D deficiency with heart failure and sudden cardiac death in a large cross-sectional study of patients referred for coronary angiography." Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2008;93:3927-3935.