British Medical Journal (The BMJ)Vitamin D Supplementation and Major Cardiovascular Events: D-Health Randomised Controlled Trial

A new study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that vitamin D supplementation may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events in older adults.

The study, which was conducted in Australia, followed more than 21,000 participants for an average of five years. The results showed that those who took vitamin D supplements were 9% less likely to experience a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, than those who did not take supplements.

Key Points:

• A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of monthly vitamin D was conducted in Australia from 2014 to 2020.
• A total of 21,302 participants aged 60-84 years were included in the analysis.
• The median intervention period was five years.
• The rate of major cardiovascular events was lower in the vitamin D group than in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.81 to 1.01).
• The rate of myocardial infarction (hazard ratio 0.81, 95% confidence interval 0.67 to 0.98) and coronary revascularisation (0.89, 0.78 to 1.01) was lower in the vitamin D group, but there was no difference in the rate of stroke (0.99, 0.80 to 1.23).

Additional Points

• The number needed to treat to avoid one major cardiovascular event was 172.
• The findings could prompt further evaluation of the role of vitamin D supplementation, particularly in people taking drugs for prevention or treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Conclusion

• This study found that vitamin D supplementation might reduce the incidence of major cardiovascular events, although the absolute risk difference was small. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to determine the optimal dose and duration of vitamin D supplementation for cardiovascular disease prevention.

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Did You Know?
The average adult needs about 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day.