No increase in falls, fractures or all-cause mortality when Vitamin D is given monthly or less often– meta-analysis April 2024

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Effects of intermittent overload doses of oral vitamin D3 on serum 25(OH)D concentrations and the incidence rates of fractures, falls, and mortality in elderly individuals: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Biomol Biomed . 2024 Apr 13. doi: 10.17305/bb.2024.10449
Xiaoyang Tao 1, Wupeng Yang 1, Qinxin Zhang 1, Yongjiang Wang 1, Feng Gao 1, Yuehan Wang 2, Tingxin Zhang 1, Hao Liu 1, Jindong Chen 3

Vitamin D level typically the same in placebo group

Vitamin D is commonly used to prevent and treat osteoporosis, with studies indicating its potential to reduce fractures, falls, and mortality. However, meta-analyses present inconsistent findings regarding its efficacy, particularly reflecting significant variability in data and outcomes related to various dosing regimens. In this meta-analysis, we assessed the impact of high-dose intermittent oral administration of vitamin D3 on serum 25(OH)D levels, fractures, falls, and mortality among elderly individuals. We included 14 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and employed Review Manager 5.4 for statistical analysis. Our findings indicate that intermittent monthly administration of vitamin D3 (over 800 IU per day) significantly raised serum 25(OH)D levels at all timepoints after six months, maintaining levels above 75 nmol/L throughout the year.

This regimen showed no increase in all-cause mortality, with a risk ratio (95% CI) of 0.95 (0.87-1.04).
Likewise, it did not significantly reduce the risks of falls and fractures, with risk ratios of 1.02 (0.98-1.05) and 0.95 (0.87-1.04) respectively. Although one-year intermittent administration significantly increased the concentration of 25(OH)D in serum, further research is needed to determine if this method would increase the incidence of falls. Therefore, it is not recommended at this stage due to the lack of demonstrated safety in additional relevant RCTs.
This study had been registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022363229).
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VitaminDWiki – Falls and Fractures category contains

• 258 items in FALLS and FRACTURES
• Vitamin D and Calcium cost-effectively reduce falls and fractures – April 2019
• see also Overview Seniors and Vitamin D
  • Overview Fractures and Falls and Vitamin D
  • Overview Fractures and vitamin D
  • Muscles and Vitamin D - many studies

Falls

• Fall prevention - Vitamin D is one of the ways - umbrella review Jan 2024
• Deaths due to falls doubled in just a decade (age-adjusted, perhaps decreased vitamin D) – June 2019
• Preventing Falls in Older Adults – Vitamin D combination is the best - JAMA Meta-analysis Nov 2017
• Falls cut in half by 100,000 IU vitamin D monthly - RCT 2016
• Falls reduced by a third if achieved 40 ng level vitamin D– RCT Sept 2018
  • Note: It took 6 months to get to that level. Most trials last only 3 months
• Vitamin D prevents falls – majority of meta-analyses conclude – meta-meta analysis Feb 2015
• Falls reduced by Vitamin D: 13 percent reduction if more than 700 IU – review of 38 trials – Aug 2022

Fracture

• Hip fractures are predicted by 10 factors – low Vitamin D is the biggest – Aug 2023
• Vitamin D and fractures – 24 meta-analyses and counting – Dec 2014
• Low trauma bone fractures in seniors – considering Vitamin D loading dose for all, without testing – Nov 2019
• Vitamin K (any amount and any kind) reduced bone fractures by 24 percent – meta-analysis – May 2019
• 75+ Hip fracture items in VitaminDWiki title   Click here for details

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25 Pages listed in BOTH the categories Falls/Fracture and Meta-analysis