Does vitamin D cut lung infection risk in older adults?

Conclusion This randomised controlled trial assessed high dose supplementation with vitamin D for a period of 12 months as a way of preventing acute respiratory infections in older adults in long term care. This study was well designed and reduced risk of bias where possible. However, there are some important limitations which affect the reliability of the findings: The study has a small sample size and the authors state they did not manage to reach their target recruitment level; this means the study did not have the statistical power required for certainty in the findings. There were some differences in the characteristics of the participants at the start of the study, including differences in body mass index, smoking status, heart disease and respiratory diseases. Ideally, differences of these types should be minimised in a randomised study. But they were present in this case – possibly as a result of the small sample size – and may have affected findings. The study only included participants who are in long term care and this may not be representative of the effect in all older adults, including those with serious illnesses or contraindications to taking high doses of vitamin D. The study did appear to find that supplementation reduced the chance of respiratory events – though this seemed only due to a reduction in upper respiratory infections such as coughs and colds rather than more serious infections. It didn't find the increased dose of vitamin D ca...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Older people Source Type: news