Vitamin D, tuberculin skin test conversion, and latent tuberculosis in Mongolian school-age children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled feasibility trial.

Study answer

What this study found

Vitamin D supplementation clearly improved vitamin D status and was associated with modestly greater linear growth, but the reduction in tuberculin skin test conversion did not reach statistical significance in this small trial. Serum 25(OH)D rose from 7.0 ng/mL at baseline to 18.2 ng/mL at 3 months and 19.8 ng/mL at 6 months in the vitamin D group, versus 4.1 and 9.6 ng/mL in placebo. Height gain over 6 months was 2.9 cm with vitamin D versus 2.0 cm with placebo (95% CI for difference 2.16, 2.81; P = 0.0025). TST conversion occurred in 5 of 45 children (11%) with vitamin D versus 11 of 41…

Study & population

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled feasibility trial in Mongolian public schoolchildren aged 12 to 15 years living in a high-tuberculosis-incidence district of Ulaanbaatar.

Intervention

The active intervention was oral vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) 800 IU daily by capsule for 6 months, compared with matched placebo.

Key limitation

This was a small feasibility trial with limited power for tuberculosis outcomes, so the TST conversion analysis was underpowered and imprecise.

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Original abstract