Clinical review: The effect of vitamin D on falls: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Study answer

What this study found

Vitamin D-containing regimens reduced falls overall, but the benefit was driven mainly by trials that coadministered calcium. For the risk of suffering at least one fall, the pooled OR was 0.86 (95% CI 0.77-0.96); for number of falls, OR was 0.79 (95% CI 0.70-0.88), with substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 90%). Vitamin D plus calcium reduced falls versus placebo (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.72-0.93), whereas vitamin D alone was not statistically significant versus placebo (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.84-1.11). The effect was stronger in vitamin D-deficient participants (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.39-0.72) than in…

Study & population

Systematic review and meta-analysis of 26 randomized trials involving 45,782 adults receiving vitamin D supplementation.

Intervention

Vitamin D was tested in multiple regimens, including D2 and D3, ranging from 400 IU/day to 500,000 IU annually or intermittent high-dose oral/intramuscular dosing, with durations from 1 month to 62 months.

Key limitation

Included trials were heterogeneous in population, dose, formulation, route, and duration, and the pooled estimates showed substantial heterogeneity.

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Original abstract