Several relevant risk factors have been identified however, the evidence for these is varied and unconvincing. As such, many researchers have focused on exploring relevant preventive interventions to delay the development of dementia. Dementia is an incurable neurodegenerative disease of unknown cause. AD is the most common type of dementia, accounting for 75% of all dementia cases. This places an enormous burden on the health system, with AD care costing about $81.8 billion each year worldwide. Almost 10 million people progress to dementia each year the median age of diagnosis is about 80 years of age. Currently, approximately 48 million people around the world are suffering from dementia and this number is expected to increase 2.73 times by 2050.

There are stronger associations between severe vitamin D deficiency (< 10 ng/ml) and both dementia and AD compared to moderate vitamin D deficiency (10–20 ng/ml).ĭementia is one of the leading causes of death and disability. There are significant associations between vitamin D deficiency and both dementia and AD.

Twelve prospective cohort studies and four cross-sectional studies were included in this meta-analysis. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with random effects models using the Stata 12.0 statistical software package. We systematically searched Pubmed, the Cochrane Library, Embase and the reference lists of pertinent review articles for relevant articles published from database inception up until January 2019. We aimed to comprehensively explore the associations between serum 25(OH)D deficiency and risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease(AD).

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