Vitamin D Supplements in the Elderly
100,000 IU every four months appears to reduce fracture risk (REF: BMJ)

Clinnix Pro

 March 4, 2003

UK researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, report the results of a randomised double-blind controlled trial which investigated the effects of vitamin D supplementation on the risk of fractures in over-65s living in the community. They found that a supplement of 100,000 IU of oral vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), once every four months, reduced the incidence of any fracture by 22%.

Subjects were 2,037 men and 649 women, aged 65 to 85 years, living in the community. All were randomised to receive either 100,000 IU vitamin D3 (1,345 subjects) or placebo (1,341 subjects), once every four months for up to five years. Dietary calcium intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire administered at baseline. Information on fractures or major illness was obtained by postal questionnaire. The main outcome measures studied were fracture incidence and all-cause mortality.

The researchers found:

• Over the five-year period, 268 men and women reported fractures, of which 147 were of the hip, wrist, or forearm

• Men and women who took vitamin D were 22% less likely than those who took placebo to suffer a first fracture at any site

• Men and women who took vitamin D were 33% less likely than those who took placebo to suffer a first hip, wrist or forearm, or vertebral fracture

• There were 471 deaths. Those who took vitamin D were slightly less likely than those who did not to die from any cause, but the difference was not statistically significant

• In a subset of 235 patients who had blood taken for serum vitamin D and parathyroid hormone concentrations, mean vitamin D levels were 40% higher and parathyroid hormone levels 6% lower in those who had taken vitamin D. Only the former figure was statistically significant.

REF: Trivedi D et al. Effect of four monthly oral vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) supplementation on fractures and mortality in men and women living in the community: randomised double blind controlled trial. BMJ 2003; 326: 469-72