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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Mar;13(2):176-183.
doi: 10.1111/irv.12615. Epub 2019 Jan 4.

Effect of Vitamin D supplementation to reduce respiratory infections in children and adolescents in Vietnam: A randomized controlled trial

Mark Loeb  1 , Anh Duc Dang  2 , Vu Dinh Thiem  3 , Vitheya Thanabalan  1 , Biao Wang  1 , Nguyen Binh Nguyen  3 , Hung Thi Mai Tran  4 , Tan Minh Luong  2 , Pardeep Singh  1 , Marek Smieja  1 , Jonathon Maguire  5 , Eleanor Pullenayegum  6
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effect of Vitamin D supplementation to reduce respiratory infections in children and adolescents in Vietnam: A randomized controlled trial

Mark Loeb et al. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

Background: It is uncertain whether vitamin D can reduce respiratory infection.

Objective: To determine whether vitamin D supplementation reduces influenza and other upper viral respiratory tract infections.

Methods: A total of 1300 healthy children and adolescents between the ages of 3 and 17 years were randomized to vitamin D (14 000 U weekly) or placebo for 8 months in Vietnam. The primary outcome was reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR-confirmed influenza infection, and the coprimary outcome was multiplex PCR-confirmed non-influenza respiratory viruses. Participants, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were blinded to group assignment.

Results: A total of 650 children and adolescents were randomly assigned to vitamin D and 650 to placebo. The mean baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were 65.7 nmol/L and 65.2 nmol/L in the intervention and placebo groups, respectively, with an increase to 91.8 nmol/L in the vitamin D group and no increase, 64.5 nmol/L, in the placebo group. All 1300 participants randomized contributed to the analysis. We observed RT-PCR-confirmed influenza A or B occurred in 50 children (7.7%) in the vitamin D group and in 43 (6.6%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.79-1.78). RT-PCR-confirmed non-influenza respiratory virus infection occurred in 146 (22.5%) in the vitamin D group and in 185 (28.5%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.61-0.94). When considering all respiratory viruses, including influenza, the effect of vitamin D in reducing infection was significant, HR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.66-0.99.

Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation did not reduce the incidence of influenza but moderately reduced non-influenza respiratory viral infection.

Keywords: influenza; randomized trial; respiratory viruses; vitamin D.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: All authors had support from Infectious Diseases Research at McMaster University that funded the research and the Ddrops Company that provided the vitamin D for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow of study participants: vitamin D supplementation versus placebo in children and adolescents in Vietnam
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan‐Meier curve of time to first RT‐PCR–confirmed A. influenza A or B infection and B, non‐influenza respiratory viruses
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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