Noting that Vitamin D deficiency is “highly prevalent” in patients with heart failure (HF) and “a significant predictor of reduced survival,” Hadassah Medical Center physicians determined that Vitamin D supplementation was associated with improved outcome.

The researchers reported their findings in the April 2012 issue of The European Journal of Heart Failure, the international journal of the European Society of Cardiology, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge in the field of heart failure.

Vitamin D deficiency was found in 28 percent of the HF patients, as compared to 22 percent in the control group. Only 8.8% of the HF patients, they found, had optimal levels of Vitamin D. Those HF patients who received Vitamin D supplementation, however, were 32 percent less likely to die from the disease.