Effects of vitamin D on insulin resistance and fasting blood glucose in pregnant women with insufficient or deficient vitamin D: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial
What this study found
Vitamin D supplementation increased serum vitamin D levels but did not improve fasting glucose or insulin resistance in this population. After treatment, vitamin D levels were higher versus placebo (P = 0.016), but fasting blood glucose (P = 0.850), fasting blood insulin (P = 0.353), HOMA-IR (P = 0.632), depression score (P = 0.404), 60-minute OGTT (P = 0.354), 120-minute OGTT (P = 0.639), gestational diabetes incidence (P = 0.187), and abortion incidence (P = 1.000) were not significantly different. Musculoskeletal pain improved, with lower knee pain (P = 0.025), ankle pain (P < 0.001), and…
- Study & population
- Randomized, placebo-controlled trial in pregnant women with insufficient or deficient vitamin D levels (<30 ng/mL) during early pregnancy, without preexisting diabetes or major endocrine or obstetric conditions.
- Intervention
- Vitamin D tablets, 4,000 IU orally once daily for 18 weeks, started at 8-10 weeks of gestation and continued until 26 weeks.
- Key limitation
- The active arm was modest in size, with 43 participants analyzed, and follow-up was limited to 18 weeks of supplementation.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Background Gestational diabetes is one of the most common metabolic disorders during pregnancy. Some studies have reported the effect of vitamin D deficiency on the incidence of this disorder. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, fasting blood insulin (FBI) levels and insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) (primary outcomes) and symptoms of depression, musculoskeletal pain, frequency of gestational diabetes and the frequency of abortion (secondary outcomes). Methods In this triple-blind randomized controlled trial, 88 pregnant women at 8–10 weeks of pregnancy who had the vitamin D of less than 30 ng/ml were randomly assigned to the vitamin D group (n = 44) and control group (n = 44) using block randomization. The vitamin D group received 4,000 units of vitamin D tablets daily and the control group received placebo tablets for 18 weeks. Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U and ANCOVA tests were used to analyze the data. Results After the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of FBG (P = 0.850), FBI (P = 0.353), HOMA-IR (P = 0.632), mean score of depressive symptoms (P = 0.505), frequency of gestational diabetes (P = 0.187) and frequency of abortion (P = 1.000) and there was only a difference in terms of serum vitamin D level (P = 0.016) and musculoskeletal pain including knee pain (P = 0.025), ankle pain (P < 0.001) and leg pain (P < 0.001). Conclusion Vitamin D could improve the musculoskeletal pain in pregnant women but couldn’t decrease FBG, FBI, HOMA-IR, depression symptoms score, incidence of GDM and abortion. Trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT): IRCT20120718010324N59. Date of registration: 4/11/2020. URL: https://en.irct.ir/user/trial/50973/view ; Date of first registration: 21/11/2020.